[Webinar] U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Energy Consumption and Cost-Effective Savings

This talk reviews results from the most recent survey of the installed base of industrial and commercial motor systems in the United States and the opportunity for cost-effective energy savings.

The findings show that motor systems consume 29% of all U.S. electricity, costing industrial and commercial facility owners $116 billion annually. The study also identifies significant opportunities to solve load control issues, improve distribution systems, and implement advanced motor technologies that reduce losses and costs.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducted the study for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Date & Time

17 June 2025; 15:00 - 16:00 CET

Speaker

• Prakash Rao, Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Recording

Presentation (PDF)

You can download the slide deck at the bottom of this page.

Key takeaways

Motor System Market Assessment

• Outdated baseline: Previous DOE assessments dated back to 1998–1999. Given changes in motor system efficiency, technology, and market structure, a comprehensive update was needed.
• Expanded scope: This new assessment (completed in 2023) covers both industrial and commercial sectors—doubling the scope of prior studies.
• Methodology: A statistically robust, on-the-ground audit was conducted.
• Objective: Understand installed base, usage, and identify cost-effective energy savings opportunities, enabling smarter program design and policy targeting.

Findings on the Installed Base of U.S. Motor Systems

• Massive energy use: Motor systems account for 29% of U.S. grid load and $116 billion/year in electricity costs.
• Most common uses:
  • Industrial sectors: materials processing, fans/blowers, pumps
  • Commercial sectors: refrigeration compressors, HVAC (fans)
• The age is unknown for ~50% of commercial and >60% of industrial motors due to missing nameplate data.

Energy Efficiency technical potential

Energy and cost savings opportunities span multiple points in the motor system, but this study focused on three main levers:

1) Replacing inefficient motors with premium efficiency motors

• Many motors operate below current efficiency standards.
• Technical potential: 3% electricity savings = 32,448 GWh/year, worth $3.6B/year, and 23 MMT/year CO₂ savings.
• Cost-effective early retirement:
  • At current motor costs, ~3,750 GWh/year savings is cost-effective.
  • If motor costs drop to 25% of current price (e.g. due to incentives or bulk procurement), potential jumps to over 14,000 GWh/year.
  • Early replacement becomes more cost-effective when paired with incentives, lower motor costs, or when bundled with other system upgrades.

2) Improving condition of distribution systems

• Many distribution systems (compressed air, pump piping, HVAC ducts) are in “unknown” or poor condition.
• Upgrading to best practice condition yields ~$4.2B/year in electricity cost savings, with CO₂ reductions of ~29 MMT/year.

3) System-level improvements

• Optimizing system operation can unlock the biggest savings.
• These include better load matching, variable frequency drive (VFD) deployment, and system right-sizing.
• VFD adoption is still low (industrial: 16%, commercial: 4%).
• Savings potential of ~112,861 GWh/year (10% of motor electricity use); ~$13B/year in savings.

Further reading

The three volumes of the U.S. Motor System Market Assessment can be downloaded from MSMA Online.

The Motor Systems Inventory online data tool allows users to generate their own metrics and analyses of domestic motor systems, their applications and their operating characteristics in the industrial and commercial sectors.