Beginning in 1992, the U.S. and Canada enacted efficiency standards forindustrial electric motors and other electrical components. Over the years, thescope of these regulations continues to raise the level of efficiency and alsowiden the coverage across motors 1 – 500 horsepower. Other countries arefollowing the lead of North America and establishing their own standards.
As we mandate premium efficiency levels, many incentive programs have beendiscontinues because of "free ridership". This may result in more old lessefficient motors being rewound rather than replaced with premium designs.
Testing in North America must be done by a certified lab but this is notnecessarily the case elsewhere. In some countries, the tests must be performedby a government lab, even though the motors were tested in a certified labelsewhere. These requirements may hamper U.S. exports and act as protection fordomestic manufacturers.
Verification and compliance in the U.S. may not be working well. Electricmotors embedded in equipment are to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 1992(EPAct) and Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) regulations butmay not be getting the proper inspection. This may result in domestic machinerymanufacturers being at a disadvantage to imported goods.
The impact on motor performance, on motor installation requirements, on powersystems as a whole, and on overall process efficiencies are discussed.
On one hand we pass laws meant to reduce electricity use and carbon emissions, but the results are that they may have the opposite effect.