EU supports companies in saving electricity

Start of the Motor Challenge Programme of the EU / electricity costs of Motor Driven Systems are too high / potentials remain unexploited / companies required for pilot phase,

Companies could lower their electricity costs for Motor Driven Systems by up to 30 per cent. Many of the measures necessary to do so are profitable in less than three years. This has been shown by studies of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe. The EU Commission now wishes to support interested companies in saving energy and has launched the Motor Challenge Programme to do so.
Motor Driven Systems such as pumps, fans or compressors are responsible for about 70 per cent of industrial electricity demand and for almost 40 per cent in the service and tertiary sector. In the EU, this corresponds to almost 800 billion kilowatt hours per year. This far exceeds Germany's electricity consumption. The annual costs for the companies amount to 56 billion euro.
In spite of the high costs involved, corporately profitable measures of efficient electricity use are not being sufficiently implemented so far. Paradoxically, the technology's ubiquitous, cross-cutting character prevents the realisation that electric motors are significant energy consumers. And yet the energy costs, calculated over the entire lifespan, constitute by far the biggest cost pool. In compressed air systems, for example, electricity costs account for almost two thirds of total costs, whereas the remaining third are allotted to investments and maintenance.
This is where the EU Commission introduces its Motor Challenge Programme. It is now looking for companies to take part in a pilot phase. Firms which participate in the Motor Challenge Programme can profit in three ways: they save electricity and thus associated costs, they can improve the quality and reliability of their Motor Driven Systems at the same time and they can publicly demonstrate their commitment to protecting the environment by using the specially designed logo for their public relations work.
Interested companies can participate as "partners" or as so-called "endorsers". The partners agree to carry out voluntary measures which reduce the electricity consumption of their motor systems. They will receive support from the EU Commission or national liason offices respectively. Typically these are systems producers or service companies such as engineering companies.
In Germany, the Motor Challenge Programme is being overseen by the Fraunhofer ISI and the Forschungszentrum (Research Centre) Jülich. Interested companies can obtain further information at:
Fraunhofer ISI, Carsten Nathani, Breslauer Strasse 48, 76139 Karlsruhe, Telephone: [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail]
or on the internet under
http://www.motorchallenge.de

,The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI complements the techno-scientific spectrum of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with economic and societal aspects, analysing technological developments, their market potentials and their impacts on economy, state and society. The Institute's interdisciplinary teams focus their work especially on the fields of energy, environment, production, communication and biotechnology, as well as regional research and research policy.

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