How to reduce energy costs with GAMBICA

GAMBICA has published a new guide, titled ‘Selection of Efficient Motors & Controls’, available as a free download from the GAMBICA Web site. This guide assists in the selection of the best motor and control technology, addressing the differences in motor efficiency ratings, the considerations and benefits of different control methods, and the issues that affect the decision making process for fixed or variable speed control.

The guide is aimed at senior managers and decision makers looking to reduce energy costs in an organisation. As such it is a concise, non-technical publication with a focus on the life-cycle costs of a motor driven system. A key message is that, although higher efficiency may increase initial purchase cost, the reduced energy cost is much more significant; often paying back quickly and many times over.

“In a single year the energy cost of running a motor can be up to 10 times its purchase price,” explained Steve Brambley, deputy director of GAMBICA. “Over the life of the motor, energy is by far the most significant cost and anyone purchasing a motor should take this into consideration. As an example, a high efficiency motor and VSD might cost £2000 more than a standard efficiency motor, but can save £5000 per year on the energy bill.”

The guide can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/GAMBICA (full URL available on request or you can download the guide from the technical publications section of GAMBICA’s Web site).

Ends: 226 words

Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from http://www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com/

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
Fax: +44 (0)20 7642 8096
e-mail: sbrambley@gambica.org.uk
www: http://www.gambica.org.uk/

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
No 2 The Garthlands, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST17 9ZP
Telephone: +44 (0) 1785 225416
Fax: +44 (0) 1785 225416
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.blogger.com/href=
Blog: http://www.stone-junction.blogspot.com/

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM028/26/12

Turning fans down can take one in three cars off the road

If just half of Britain’s electric motors were reduced in speed by 10%, it would have the net effect of mitigating for the carbon emissions of 9.8 million executive saloon cars every year.

While this fact might not enthuse Jeremy Clarkson, it has a far more serious message and that is that governments subscribing to the Kyoto Protocol, and its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, continue to ignore the low hanging fruit that electric motor control presents.

According to GAMBICA, the UK’s body representing the automation and control manufacturers, the simple control of electric motors has been overlooked as a significant energy conservation measure. While energy efficiency attention has tended to focus on building fabric, lighting and heating, motors have been largely ignored. By doing as GAMBICA suggests and controlling motors, a populace equivalent to nearly four million households would be rendered carbon neutral - at an average of 6.5 tonnes of emissions per household.

Similarly, long term consideration is given to reducing car exhaust emissions by both vehicle design and discouraging car use, yet the expedient of controlling electric motors in building and industry will achieve a greater net effect in the short term.

Likewise in electricity generation, where exploration of renewable and green energy continues apace while controlling electric motors would save the entire output of Drax, the UK’s largest coal fired power station, every year.

The reason the savings are so great, explained Steve Brambley of GAMBICA, is that electric motors consume huge amounts of electricity – about two-thirds of industrial energy use and about one quarter of total UK consumption. 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.

The laws of physics concerning fans for example, means that for every 10% reduction in speed, in accordance with the cube law of fans, there is subsequent saving of three times that in electricity consumed.

Steven Brambley commented, “It is time for the Government and the institutional energy efficiency bodies to bring, by whatever means, pressure to bear on users of electric motors to control them efficiently. With rapidly rising energy costs one would think this would happen as a natural course but it is clear that carrots and sticks are required”.

Ends: 395 words

Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com.

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
Fax: +44 (0)20 7642 8096
e-mail: sbrambley@gambica.org.uk
www: www.gambica.org.uk

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4PN
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: www.stonejunction.co.uk
Blog: www.stone-junction.blogspot.com

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM002/02/10