The 0.2% that scales to billions

SPEAKING FROM ABB's Västerås facility, David Bjerhag, global business line manager for high speed synchronous motors, asserted that the industrial sector has become too focused on upfront capital costs, often at the expense of considering lifetime operating performance. The result, he says, is an "industrial efficiency gap" that is costing businesses billions in unnecessary energy expenditure.

Electric motors already account for around 45% of all electricity consumed by industry worldwide. While the largest motors – those rated above 375kW -– represent only a small proportion of the installed base, they consume approximately 23% of all electricity used by industrial motors, equating to around 10% of global electricity consumption. And demand is only set to increase; as industrial electrification accelerates and economies continue to expand, ABB expects global numbers of industrial motors to almost double by 2040, making efficiency improvements increasingly important.

This places electric motors firmly at the centre of future energy strategy, not simply because they consume electricity, but because they determine how efficiently that electricity is converted into useful mechanical work.

While much attention is understandably focused on renewable energy generation, carbon capture and hydrogen, Bjerhag believes energy efficiency remains one of the fastest and most commercially attractive routes to reducing industrial emissions. Referencing International Energy Agency analysis, he noted that achieving global climate targets will require multiple technologies working together rather than relying on a single solution. Among those, improved energy efficiency represents one of the largest individual contributors to emissions reduction.

Unlike major infrastructure projects, improving motor efficiency generally requires no planning permissions, no significant site modifications and no disruption to existing industrial processes. In many cases, replacing or specifying a higher-efficiency motor is a relatively straightforward engineering decision - and notably, it is one that often pays for itself.

Beyond the purchase price

One of ABB's strongest messages is that industrial purchasing decisions continue to place too much emphasis on initial capital cost. According to the company's lifecycle analysis, around 99% of a large motor's total cost of ownership occurs during its operating life through electricity consumption. The purchase price represents only around 1%.

The environmental picture is remarkably similar. Even in countries with relatively low-carbon electricity generation, such as Sweden, approximately 99% of a motor's lifetime carbon emissions arise during operation rather than manufacture. In regions with more carbon-intensive electricity grids, the operational share is even higher.

As a result, with large industrial motors typically remaining in service for around 25 years, relatively small efficiency improvements accumulate into substantial energy savings over their lifetime.

To demonstrate the scale of the opportunity, ABB analysed performance data from more than 1000 large motors supplied over the past decade. Rather than comparing old equipment with modern designs, the company compared already high-efficiency motors with what would have been possible had every customer selected ABB's highest available efficiency specification. The difference averaged just 0.2%.

Yet across those installations alone, ABB estimates that this small improvement would have saved 11.1TWh of electricity – equivalent to around 10% of Sweden's annual electricity production – while avoiding approximately six million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Typical customer payback periods would have ranged from six months to three years, well within the investment criteria of most industrial organisations.

For businesses facing volatile electricity prices, reducing energy demand also improves operational resilience by lowering dependence on increasingly constrained power systems.

Available technology

ABB is keen to stress that these improvements are not theoretical. The company recently achieved a certified motor efficiency of 99.13%, setting a new world record for a synchronous motor. Installed at an Indian steel plant powering an air separation unit, the motor is expected to save its operator around US$6 million in electricity costs over its lifetime while avoiding approximately 45,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The additional investment required was recovered in just over three months.

So, if the technology already exists, why isn't every customer specifying the highest-efficiency option?

ABB believes one of the answers lies less with engineering than with procurement. Where end users purchase motors directly, particularly in sectors such as air separation and chemicals, the highest efficiency options are selected far more frequently because buyers evaluate total cost of ownership rather than purchase price alone. In contrast, sectors such as oil and gas often involve long procurement chains.

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors understandably prioritise project delivery, schedule certainty and competitive tendering. Equipment manufacturers then compete primarily on initial cost, with efficiency becoming a secondary consideration. As a result, the organisation paying the energy bill is often several steps removed from the original purchasing decision. Bjerhag argues that this disconnect explains why industrial sites can end up using world-leading efficiency on one process, while accepting significantly lower performance elsewhere on the same facility.

However, the overarching message is that industrial decarbonisation is not solely dependent on breakthrough technologies. Sometimes it depends on making better purchasing decisions, and the seemingly small energy savings that add up to huge benefits.

These themes are covered in depth in ABB's new report, The Industrial Efficiency Gap, which can be downloaded at:

bit.ly/4gI8E45