If just half of Britain's electric motors were slowed by 10%, the carbon emissions savings would be equivalent to 9.8 million cars every year.
That statistic comes from GAMBICA, the UK automation and control manufacturers association, which argues that industry is still ignoring the 'low hanging fruit' of electric motor control.
Steve Brambley of GAMBICA urges motor users to consider speed reduction and variable speed drives – not just the big ticket items – because for every 10% reduction in speed, there is a cubed reduction in electricity consumed.
"Electric motors consume huge amounts of electricity – about two-thirds of industrial energy use and about one quarter of total UK consumption," he explains.
"A simple electric motor costing a few hundreds of pounds can be expected to consume many tens of thousands of pounds-worth of electricity over its useful lifetime," adds Brambley.
