Decarbonising Europe through electric motors is crucial as they consume over 50% of global electricity, highlighting the need for energy-efficient systems. The document emphasizes the potential for significant energy savings through improved motor efficiency, the adoption of variable speed drives, and a circular economy approach in motor design and recycling. It advocates for policy revisions, better market surveillance, and the acceleration of replacing outdated motors to align with sustainability goals.

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September 2019 - Primer 1, Edition 1

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The goal of DecarbEurope is to engage decision-makers in policy
and industry with solutions that can, in a cost-effective manner,
decarbonise Europe at the scale and speed that is needed to
achieve our climate goals.
As an ecosystem of twenty sectors — and growing — the
initiative connects technologies, policies, and markets. Partners
of DecarbEurope commit themselves to common values of deep
decarbonisation, cost-effectiveness, circularity, sector-coupling
and consumer engagement.
About

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Electric motors play a major role in all economic sectors (industrial,
tertiary, residential, agricultural and in transportation), to deliver in
a reliable and efficient way mechanical power to a huge variety of
processes and services.
The electric motor market has witnessed a major change in the last
decades in several aspects: in structure, with company mergers
contributing to a more global market, in content with energy-
efficiency policies, and in its economy due to increasing electricity
prices, all aspects contributing to push the market towards more
energy-efficient and sustainable products.
Technological developments have led to the market introduction
of very efficient motors with efficiencies well above the IE3/
NEMA Premium levels. The growing market penetration of Variable
Speed Drives (VSD), also leads to large energy savings in systems
with variable loads, besides providing improved reliability and
quality control. The widespread application of energy-efficient
motor systems translates into 3100 TWh of global electricity
savings by 2040 (about 15% of the World motor systems electricity
consumption). Motor system efficiency should be increased at
least up to the level of the lowest life-cycle cost.
Two major areas of growth for electric motors in the next decades
are electric mobility for clean transportation and space heating/
cooling with high efficiency heat pumps. As a consequence, the
share of electricity in final energy consumption is expected to
Editorial

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increase significantly. These two applications can play a major role
in the new, low-carbon economy due to the fast decarbonisation
of the electrical power sector. In both cases, a variety of benefits
can be achieved such as the replacement of imported fossil fuels
by renewable electricity, decrease of emissions both at local and
at global level, as well as allowing the integration of variable
renewable generation, since for example electric vehicle charging
or heating and cooling of buildings can be used to balance supply
and demand.
The energy transition is only sustainable if material use is taken
into account. The expected rise in the number of motors poses
the question whether those motors have the potential to function
in a circular economy to ensure ease of maintenance, repair and
remanufacture. Research & Innovation support for rare earth-
free motor development, as well as concepts such as Design for
Recycling (DfR) can lead the way.
Anibal de Almeida, Professor at
University of Coimbra, Institute
of Systems and Robotics
(Photo: Motor Summit 2018)

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Electric motors are a major component of the technological world
in which we are living. A home today easily contains fifty electric
motors. Apart from the obvious ones (the washing machine, vacuum
cleaner and kitchen mixer), there are pump systems in the heating
boiler, hot water boiler and dishwasher, as well as fan systems in
bathroom ventilation, computer and microwave ovens. In industry,
electric motors are even more widespread and often hidden in
closed systems such as fans, pumps or compressors.
In the energy transition, the role of electric motor systems will
continue to grow, therefore making those systems highly energy
efficient is imperative.
The technology to make motor systems more energy efficient is
available on the market and its adoption is mostly beneficial from
a life-cycle costing perspective. A lot of progress has already been
achieved: since 2011, minimum efficiency performance standards
(MEPS) for the major motor categories are mandatory in the EU, with
new efficiency levels and categories updated in 2019. Nevertheless,
there remains a savings potential that could be tapped into through
better adoption of existing standards, more emphasis on a systems
approach, accelerated replacement of existing motor stock and
extension of MEPS to broader power ranges and product categories.
Motors power the
energy transition

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Indeed, an electric motor does not function in isolation: the motor
driven unit consists of the electric motor, sometimes controlling
equipment such as a soft starter or variable speed drive, supporting
mechanical equipment (gear, belt, clutch, brake…) and the
application it is driving (pump, fan, compressor).
The motor system also includes all other components that suffer
from energy losses while executing its function (water or air ducts,
throttles, valves). Optimizing this entire motor system is the best
way to minimize energy use and CO2 emissions.

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Promote a systems approach.
Assessingtheenergyefficiencyoftheentiremotorsystem
is difficult but could be achieved through mandatory
motor system audits. A systems approach can also be
promoted through propagation of energy management
principles and through education and training initiatives.
International standardisation should be further supported
to facilitate the development of appropriate test methods,
performance metrics and efficiency classifications.
Connect energy and carbon savings with the circular
economy.
The energy transition leads to an increased use of material
in electric motors. This can be made sustainable through
the principles of the circular economy. They translate into
design for easy maintenance and repair (which can double
or treble the life of energy-efficient motors), reduced use
of critical raw materials, strong end-of-life requirements
and strengthened management systems.
Accelerate the replacement of the existing motor stock.
The average life of motors below 7.5 kW is about 12 years,
which increases progressively with power, reaching 20
years for motors above 75 kW. In the EU the vast majority
of motors over 15 years old are either IE0 or IE1 (low
efficiency levels). Therefore there is a significant and
cost-effective energy savings potential.
Policy solutions
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Revise periodically MEPS regulation to reflect
technological progress and set the right ambition
level.
The introduction of MEPS for motors at IE4 level is
a positive step forward placing the EU in a leading
position. However, the power range could be more
ambitious starting with motors below 75kW (e.g. 7,5
kW) and going beyond 200 kW (e.g. up to 375 kW). The
same applies for the efficiency of variable speed
drives (IE3 instead of IE2) and the scope of products
(add certain categories currently excluded, such as
increased safety motors).
Reinforce market surveillance of existing regulation.
There is a lack of capacity in the EU to check motor
efficiency compliance. The INTAS project proposes
a promising portfolio of measures to improve
market surveillance of industrial projects, such as
dedicated European task forces, notification to MSAs,
cooperation among stakeholders and witness testing
according to standardised procedures (see www.
intas-testing.eu).
Support sustainable technologies for electric
mobility.
The number of electric motors in this sector is
expected to grow exponentially, so the technologies
used should use as little critical raw materials as
possible. There are rare earth-free alternatives which
can match the power and torque density required by
the automotive sector, in combination with a high
efficiency level, needed to maximise the range of the
vehicle.
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Electric motors and the applications they drive (pumps,
fans and compressors) are the single largest use of
electricity, consuming > 2.5 times as much as lighting.
Electric motor systems use over 50% of global electricity
and around 70% of global industrial electricity.
With proper market surveillance, the new EU regulation for
electric motors and variable speed drives should lead to at
least 23 TWh savings per year.
Each kilogram of copper added to an electric motor to
increase its efficiency will save up to 10 MWh electricity
over the motor’s lifetime.
The use of lower loss grade steels allows to increase the
motors efficiency level. Simply by changing to a lower
loss grade, an IE2 electrical machine can be brought up
to the IE3 level. IE3 is the minimum energy performance
standard in Europe today.
Facts
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Electric motor-driven systems used in heat pumps
and electric vehicles save a factor three or more in
final energy compared to combustion technologies.
Electric motors are everywhere - a modern home
contains at least 50 motors; a luxury car has over 100
motors of different sizes. Large factories can contain
hundreds or thousands of motors.
40-60% of all motor systems would benefit from
the proper use of Variable Frequency Drives (VFD)
to improve the energy efficiency of industrial motor
systems.
When coupled to storage systems such as building
heating, water distribution or certain industrial
processes, electric motors can provide highly
responsive flexibility services to the electricity
system.
When adequately designed and optimised, induction
and synchronous reluctance technologies, which
don’t use any critical raw material, can provide as
much specific power and torque as permanent
magnet motors for use in electric vehicles.
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Sources: OECD, IEA, 4E EMSA, Swiss Topmotors Program, ArcelorMittal, ECI,
ReFreeDrive.
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Interview
Why are motors important to decarbonising Europe’s energy system?
Motor systems utilize more than half of the world’s electrical energy
so the efficiency of these systems is crucial. The components of
motor systems (motors and variable speed drives) already have
decent efficiencies, so the biggest effect will be on the system
level. The third main part of a motor system - the driven equipment
– is the next frontier for higher energy savings.
For example, downthrottling is most often used as a regulation
mechanism, but it wastes energy that could be saved by simply
slowing down the motor. Pumps and fans are the best candidates
for this. The extended product approach as defined in standards (IEC
61800-9-2) helps customers quantify the potential energy savings.
How can Europe ensure leadership in efficient motor systems?
Through standardization. For example, the EN 50598 series –
standards on how to determine the efficiency of motor driven
systems – was published in 2016 and has now been converted into
global IEC standards: the IEC 61800-9 series. The next step will be to
align this methodology with the application standards (fans, pumps,
compressors etc.) so it will be possible to optimize on the entire
system. By setting the standards, the European industry takes lead
in the development.

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How will the digital and circular economy impact the motors sector?
Variable speed drives are by their very nature digital and will perform
as intelligent sensors very close to the process, opening possibilities
for further system level energy optimization. Digitalisation also
opens opportunities for new business models and services like
predictive maintenance.
The circular economy initiative will first impact the motor side.
There the challenge is to achieve a balance between the efficiency
and material requirements e.g. on the use of rare earths. The impact
on variable speed drives is different and here the main challenge
will the balance between liability and durability on the one side and
recyclability and reparability on the other side.
How can motor systems deliver flexibility services in smart grids?
In current design, the possibilities for demand flexibility are low.
However, many applications exist where the requirements are not
always carved in stone – for example it is possible to reduce the
fan speed in a HVAC system if there is
not enough power available without
immediately impacting the comfort of
people in the affected areas. Pumping
systems in water treatment can also
have interesting flexibility potentials.
Jesper Jerlang, Standardization
Manager, Business Development,
Danfoss Drives
(Photo: Jesper Jerlang)

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Success stories
GRAVEL PLANT
Switzerland
HASTAG (Zürich) AG
is a company in the
construction material
sector located in
Northeast Switzerland.
The raw gravel stockpile
and the gravel plant are
connected via a conveyor belt that is 153 metres long and transports
approximately 700 tonnes of raw gravel per hour to a height of 46
metres. The old 150 kW motor built in 1981 was replaced by a new
high-efficiency motor IE4. The specific energy consumption per
tonne of material was cut by 10%. The savings achieved (4000 francs
per year) paid back the investment in 4.2 years.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
Denmark
The slaughterhouse in Horsens, Denmark, processes more than
20,000 pig carcasses daily, demanding high performance of all
machinery. Danish Crown has approximately 1,000 variable speed
drives installed throughout the plant, controlling everything
from simple conveyor belts to more advanced applications. The
slaughterhouse went in 2016 through a big motor replacement
project combined with automation drives. The new solutions save
30,000 EUR annually.

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MANUFACTURING PLANT
Switzerland
IVF Hartmann AG manufactures medical products. Three pumps
of efficiency level IE1 were responsible for 5% of the electricity
consumption of the plant, i.e. 170 MWh/year. These were replaced
by three new pumps IE4 efficiency level, cutting the electricity
consumption by more than 30%. The payback time is four years,
saving more than 8000 CHF per year.* These 15 kW pumps are very
intensively used (4400 to 5400 hours per year).
BELFAST AIRPORT
Northern Ireland
The airport installed
variable speed drive
controls on the 28 fans
on the air handling units
covering 35 – 40 % of the
main airport. The investment was paid back in less than a year, while
improving comfort conditions for the customers. The airport saves 1
million kWh per year, representing €112,000 annually.
PHOTOS
(Opposite) HASTAG (Zürich) AG - Switzerland. Source: Topmotors Best Practice No. 08
(Above) Airport solutions. Source: Danfoss Drives
* Topmotors Best Practice No. 07

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Improving market
surveillance
Given the enormous numbers of electric motors sold in the EU,
setting up a system for compliance verification is challenging.
The INTAS project (www.intas-testing.eu) proposes a promising
portfolio of measures to improve market surveillance of industrial
projects:
• Set up a dedicated European market surveillance task force.
• Establish a mandatory notification to market surveillance
authorities for certain product categories.
• Foster cooperation with national stakeholders.
• Allow market surveillance authorities to conduct market
surveillance actions at manufacturers’ site.
• Insert clauses to deter circumvention.
The US system for market surveillance could also be used to identify
good practices, such as a website for reporting non-compliant
motors, random compliance testing and fines for non-compliance.

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The extended product
approach
A system approach should be followed to minimise the energy
losses in all components, including both the motor driven unit and
the application (for example, a pump or compressor) and all the
mechanical connections in between. Given the complexity of such
a procedure and the unique character of each application and its
load, promoting motor system efficiency is not a straightforward
task.
One potential path forward is to actively promote the standard
for the extended product approach (IEC 61800-9), as well as the
development of a software tool that can assist in implementing this
standard. Another complementary possibility is to promote motor
system efficiency via Energy Management Systems.
The upcoming new version of the Technical Specification on rotating
electrical machines (IEC 60034 Part 31 - Application guidelines for
the selection of energy-efficient motors including variable speed
applications) will also contribute to make further progress in this
field.

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Motor maintenance and
refurbishment
Maintenance, re-use and refurbishment of energy efficient machines
mustbegivenpriorityoverreplacementaspartofthecirculareconomy
concept. An important consideration, however, is that relevant energy
savings potential exists in the renovation of the older, less efficient
motor stock.
Because the energy consumption during the use phase is dominant
in the life cycle impact and cost of a motor, waiting for replacement
until a motor fails will not be the best option if higher efficiency models
have become the standard on the market. An early replacement of
an electric motor is often paid back in a very short time by improved
energy efficiency, reduced maintenance costs, and avoided outages
and their associated losses.
Apartfromthisconsideration,ifaneffortismadetoextendtheusefullife
of an energy efficient motor, care should be taken to at least maintain
the existing efficiency level and to avoid compromising its reliability.
Proper predictive maintenance based on condition monitoring can be
a good base to work from.
An international standard defining the circular economy requirements
for electric motors has been published in January 2019 (IEC 60034
– Part 23:2019, Rotating Electrical Machines: Repair, Overhaul and
Reclamation). The standard ensures that repaired machines meet their
original rated performance figures and satisfy the requirements of the
circular economy.

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Acceleratedreplacementof
lessefficientmotorstock
The average lifetime of motors is usually accepted to be:
• Up to 7.5 kW: 12 years
• 7.5 – 75 kW: 15 years
• 75 – 250 kW: 20 years
The first tier of EU motor efficiency standards was enforced from
2011 at IE2 level. We can accordingly expect that 30% of small motors,
around50%ofmediummotors,andover60%oflargemotorsincurrent
operation were purchased before that date and are still below IE2 level.
Much bigger amounts apply to the IE3 motor regulation which was
enforced in 2015. Therefore there is a significant energy and economic
savings potential.
Up until 2014, Topmotors assessed 4124 separate motor systems in 18
Swiss factories. The analysis showed that 56% of all motors and their
respective systems were older than their expected operating life time
(some were twice the expected age).
Motorsageandsizedistribution.
Source:Topmotors

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Developing powertrains
for electric mobility free
of critical raw materials
So far, permanent magnet technologies using rare earths have
dominatedthelandscapeofelectricmobilityduetotheirhighpowerand
torque density, as well as their high efficiency. The number of electric
motors in this sector is expected to grow exponentially. However, rare
earths have the highest risk of disruption in the EU supply among all
critical raw materials (CRM), according to the European Commission
list of CRMs.
Therefore, there is a concern on the viability of this technology for mass
production.
Research and development of rare earth-free alternatives should
be supported. The performance ratios achieved by their permanent
magnet counterparts can be reached and even exceeded. Initiatives
such as ReFreeDrive (H2020 EU funded project, www.refreedrive.eu)
are pushing the boundary of the current induction and synchronous
reluctance technologies, achieving unprecedented values of power
and torque density, combined with the highest efficiency levels.
Further support for innovation and industrialisation of rare earth-free
technologies would help the European industry to go through the
critical raw materials bottleneck in electric mobility.
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World landscape
Over the past decade the worldwide electricity use by electric motor
driven systems has grown steadily from 43-46% to 53%. This electricity
use (10,700 TWh in 2014) corresponds to the combined electricity
consumption of China, USA and EU approximately. Industry is the main
sector with a share of 60% (6 000 TWh).
Recognition of the contribution of motors to the global electricity
consumption has led to the introduction of MEPS (minimum energy
performancestandards)inmostindustrializedcountries.Theefficiency
classes for Direct-on-Line (DOL) motors are defined in IEC 60034-
30-1. This standard is widely accepted as the global standard making
efficiency classes comparable worldwide. It defines classes IE1 to IE4,
with growing efficiency.
EfficiencylevelsinIEC60034-30-
1(2014)standardfor50Hz,4pole
motors

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ThemainmotorMEPSworldwide cover motors inthe range of0.75-375
kW at IE2 and/or IE3 level.
TheintroductionofMEPShaspushedthemarkettowardshigherenergy
efficiency motors, whilst simultaneously removing the worst products
from the market. In regulated markets motors of higher efficiency
classes IE3 and IE4 are now readily available on the market and can
be delivered in a large variety of nominal output power and poles. The
price of IE3 premium motors is 15%-20% higher than the less efficient
IE2class.ThepriceofthenextgenerationIE4motorsis15%-25%higher
than IE3 motors [1].
This evolution of the world market towards higher motor efficiency
levels generates a positive business outlook for motor suppliers,
through extra revenues, and for end-users, through lower total cost of
ownership.
There is a potential for the efficiency of electric motor driven systems
to increase by 35% between 2017 and 2040 [2]. For this the majority
of motors’ energy use in 2040 will need to come from the super-
premium efficiency IE4 level, with the remainder at IE3 level. To ensure
this development governments will need to continue applying and
strengthening MEPS.
The EU acts as first mover and has recently revised the motor MEPS
to make a first step towards tier level IE4: for 75 – 200 kW motors the
minimum level will be raised to IE4 (2, 4, 6 poles) per mid-2023. Other
changes include a wider scope in power range (0.12-1,000kW) and type
of motors, and a minimum efficiency level for variable speed drives of
IE2 (0.75 – 1,000 kW).

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While the efficiency of individual electric motors has risen due to
globally co-ordinated national policies, there is an opportunity to
access very significant further reductions in energy consumption by
addressing the electric motor driven system.
MotorMEPSmustbecoupledwiththeincreasedapplicationofvariable
speed drives (VSDs) and the driven applications like pumps, fans
and compressors. To effectively access this potential, governments,
industry and standardization bodies should co-ordinate activities to
develop relevant standards and regulations for these electric motor
driven systems.
Sources
[1] Topmotors Market Report 2018; Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE, May
2019, www.topmotors.ch/en/market; Maarten van Werkhoven, TPA advisors
Netherlands & Rita Werle, Impact Energy Switzerland.
[2] World Energy Outlook 2016, IEA, Paris.

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Making DecarbEurope
solutions work together
Motors are present in multiple DecarbEurope solutions: appliances,
demand response, electric vehicles, goods transport, passenger
transport, building automation and heat pumps. Also electric
generators used in wind power and cogeneration share the same
technology as motors.
Multiple appliances are now regulated by the Ecodesign directive
and many of them use motors, such as air conditioners, air heating
and cooling products, comfort fans, circulators, dishwashers,
washing machines, refrigerators and freezers, vacuum cleaners and
ventilation units. These products have to combine the efficiency
of multiple components, including motors, to deliver the required
system efficiency.
Heat pumps have improved their efficiency continuously in the last
years. Multiple factors have played a role here but with no doubt the
use of high efficiency motors in combination with variable speed
drives has contributed significantly to such progress. A relevant
portion of the heat pump market is regulated by the Ecodesign
directive, as indicated above.
Transport in all its forms is called to become climate-neutral in
the next decades. Stricter CO2
emission standards for cars and
vans have recently been set in the EU, targeting >30% reduction
in CO2
by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. Electrification is a basic,

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economically efficient strategy, which will impact significantly
the number of electric motors in use. A sustainable and reliable
material supply is a key consideration, as the use of critical raw
materials should be minimised or avoided.
Demand response will be increasingly valued in an electricity
landscape dominated by variable renewables. The bulk of electricity
consumption at industrial level takes place in motors (fans, pumps,
compressors and conveying belts) which could be modulated
within certain limits, notably in those applications where product
or thermal storage capacities exist. Also, at buildings level, in
combination with automation and control systems, heating and
cooling powered by heat pumps can deliver relevant demand
response capacities.
Acknowledgments
• Anibal de Almeida, Professor at University of Coimbra,
Institute of Systems and Robotics
• Martin Doppelbauer, Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. - Karlsruher Institut
für Technologie (KIT)
• Jos Habets, Engineer Electrical - Solution Expert & Installation
Responsible, Sitech Services
• Sigrid Jacobs, Expert for Electrical Steels, ArcelorMittal
Global R&D
• Jesper Jerlang, Standardization Manager, Business
Development, Danfoss Drives
• Thomas Marks, Tim Marks, Association of Electrical and
Mechanical Trades
• Rudolf Moos, Co-Founder & CDO | Breuckmann eMobility
• Maarten van Werkhoven, TPA advisors Netherlands
• Rita Werle, Impact Energy Switzerland

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©DecarbEurope, 2019
#DecarbEurope
www.decarbeurope.org