Powering progress: Why motor efficiency is the quickest route to industrial energy savings

The challenge is building a policy framework that makes efficiency the baseline, not the premium option.

In most industrial facilities, motors are everywhere, running continuously in the background – powering pumps in water treatment plants, compressors in manufacturing lines, and fans in HVAC systems. They account for about 60% of industrial electricity demand globally and roughly a quarter of all electricity use worldwide.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s World Energy Outlook 2025, global energy demand grew by more than 2% in 2024 to over 650 exajoules (EJ) – well above the long-term average of 1.4% growth. Improving industrial energy efficiency should be a core strategy in responding to this staggering level of demand. Yet efficiency gains are slowing, not accelerating.

An untapped opportunity
Around 50% of industrial motors are more than 10 years old, and 25% of those have been installed for over 20 years. On top of that, minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) cover only three-fifths of all industrial electric motors globally. This means that a large portion of the world's installed motor base continues to operate below the efficiency levels achievable with today's best available technology, frequently without any form of speed control in place.

Older IE1 motors can be up to 12% less efficient than an equivalent IE4 class motor – though this figure varies depending on the size of the motor. Upgrading a single 20kW motor from IE1 to IE4, used daily for 16 hours, would save around 2,850 kWh per year – the same annual electricity use as an average UK household.

That's just one motor. A typical industrial facility might have tens or hundreds of motors this size, and a large plant such as a paper mill can have thousands. The IEA calculates that stronger action on efficient motors and drives could avoid about five EJ of industrial energy demand by 2035 – comparable to the CO2 emissions from 246 coal-fired power plants in one year.

The question isn't whether the opportunity exists; it's why we're not moving faster to capture it.

What's getting in the way
Despite the clear efficiency opportunity, a couple of persistent barriers stand between current practice and widespread motor upgrades.

High upfront costs and organisational inertia
Many companies still default to older, less efficient motors to minimise installation costs and reduce downtime after breakdowns. These motors are often repaired and put back into service because maintenance and investment budgets are separated, reinforcing short-term decisions.

In reality, initial purchase costs tend to drive investment choices, whilst operational costs – which account for around 97% of a motor’s lifetime expenses – are frequently overlooked. As a result, the slightly higher upfront price of high-efficiency motors can deter adoption, even when payback periods are often measured in months rather than years, and long-term savings are substantial.

Bridging this gap requires not just better data, but organisational structures that connect energy cost outcomes to the decisions being made on the plant floor.

Lack of awareness and data
In many cases, there is no reliable inventory of existing motor fleets, leaving operators unaware of the age, efficiency class, or load profile of the motors they rely on. Without this baseline data, building a solid business case for systematic upgrades becomes nearly impossible.

Detailed motor fleet inventories – tracking age, efficiency class, and energy use – give industrial operators the baseline of data they need to build a credible business case for upgrades. Energy audits can identify opportunities for replacement or optimisation and should also highlight non-energy benefits such as improved reliability and lower maintenance costs, which often influence decision makers more than energy savings alone.

These challenges are solvable, but they require alignment between technology, policy, and industry practice so that efficiency gains become both practical and scalable.

What should be globally prioritised
The first priority is raising the regulatory floor. Countries without motor efficiency standards should adopt them as a matter of urgency, and those with existing standards should advance toward IE4 and prepare for IE5.

The technology is already here. IE5 Ultra-Premium efficiency motors, based on Synchronous Reluctance (SynRM) technology, offer a high-efficiency design without permanent magnets or rare earth materials. The challenge now is building a policy framework that makes efficiency the baseline, not the premium option.

The next priority is a systems approach. Addressing the entire motor-driven system – including pumps, fans, compressors, and variable speed drives (VSDs) – rather than the motor in isolation is where the real performance gains are found. In the EU alone, potential savings from VSDs exceed 121TWh per year.

This is where payback periods shrink from years to months, and where operational benefits become impossible to ignore.

Every motor is an opportunity
The IEA predicts that the share of industrial energy running through motors and drives will grow by around 50% by 2035 as more processes switch from fossil fuels to electricity. If we electrify inefficiently, we lock in higher demand and higher costs for decades. However, electrifying with the most efficient motors and drives offsets that demand growth and accelerates decarbonisation.

What is needed now is alignment between policymakers who set the standards, technology providers who deliver the solutions, and industry leaders who implement them – all working together to turn available solutions into standard practice.

The opportunity is clear, and the path forward is proven. The question is how quickly we move.