2012 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems
December16-19, 2012, Bengaluru, India
Energy Efficiency in Electrical Systems
D. Maheswaran
Larsen & Toubro Limited, Chennai, India
dmaheswaran@lntecc.com
V. Rangaraj
raaj@lntecc.com
Abstract—Mitigating climate change and achieving stabilization
of greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations – the objective of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) – will require deep reductions in global Energy-
related Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. G-8 leaders called for a
50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions before 2050
to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change.
Meeting this goal requires transforming the way energy is
produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the
economy and regions of the world.
Energy efficiency offers seemingly glittering promises to all-
savings for consumers and utilities, profits for shareholders,
improvements in industrial productivity, enhanced international
competitiveness and reduced environmental impacts. As global
energy demand continues to grow, actions to increase energy
efficiency will be essential. The technical opportunities are
myriad and potential savings real, but consumers and utilities
have so far been slow to invest in the most cost-effective, energy-
efficient technologies available. The energy efficiency of
buildings, electric equipment, and appliances in use falls far short
of what is technically attainable. Energy analysts have attributed
this efficiency gap to a variety of market, institutional and
technical constraints. Electric utility energy efficiency techniques
have great potential to narrow this gap and achieve significant
energy savings. This paper provides some of the recent trends in
energy efficiency technologies that have been successful and also
used widely worldwide. They are:
1) Energy efficient motors
2) Soft starters with energy saver
3) Variable speed drives
4) Energy efficient transformers
5) Electronic ballast
6) Occupancy sensors & Energy efficient lighting controls
7) Energy efficient Lamps
This paper presents Case Studies of various energy efficient
techniques used in a Steel Plant resulting in considerable
Electrical energy savings varying from 10-15%. Electric motors
drive both core industrial processes, like presses or roll mills, and
auxiliary systems, like compressed air generation, ventilation or
water pumping. They are utilized throughout all industrial
branches, though the main applications vary. With only some
exceptions, electric motors are the main source for the provision
of mechanical energy in industry. In recent years, many studies
978-1-4673-4508-8/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
K. K. Jembu Kailas
kkjk@lntecc.com
W. Adithya Kumar
aadi@lntecc.com
identified large energy efficiency potentials in electric motors and
motor systems with many saving options showing very short
payback times and high cost-effectiveness.
Furthermore, almost all electricity in India is generated by
rotating electrical generators, and approximately half of that
generated is used to drive electrical motors. Hence, efficiency
improvements with electrical machines can have a very large
impact on energy consumption. The key challenges to increased
efficiency in systems driven by electrical machines lie in three
areas:
a. To extend the application areas of variable-speed
electric drives through reduction of power electronic and control
costs
b. Secondly, to integrate the drive and the driven load to
maximize system efficiency
c. Finally, to increase the efficiency of the electrical
machine.
Lighting is a large and rapidly growing source of energy demand
and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time the savings
potential of lighting energy is high, even with the current
technology, and there are new energy efficient lighting
technologies coming onto the market. Currently, more than 33
billion lamps operate worldwide, consuming more than 2650
TWh of energy annually, which is approximately 19% of the
global electricity consumption. The introduction of more energy
efficient lighting products and procedures can at the same
time provide better living and working environments and also
contribute in a cost-effective manner to the global reduction of
energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
Keywords—Energy Efficiency;Energy efficient motors;variable
speed drives;energy efficient lighting controls.
I. INTRODUCTION
Energy efficiency refers to the physical performance of
specific end uses or energy services such as lighting, heating,
cooling, and motor drive. Greater energy efficiency is achieved
by replacing, upgrading, or maintaining existing equipment to
reduce the amount of energy needed. Energy efficiency is
usually measured by the output quantity per unit of energy
input (miles per gallon or lumens per watt, for example).
Because energy is one of several factors of production (labor,
capital, and materials are others), energy efficiency
improvements contribute to greater energy productivity and
economic efficiency.
 Efficient use of electricity and changes in the electric power
sector will play a vital role in any strategy for achieving a more
energy-efficient society. If the threat of global climate change
prompts concerted action to reduce carbon emissions,
maximizing energy efficiency will be an imperative and a
major overhaul of how energy services are provided and paid
for will be required on a more accelerated schedule.
Utilities & others have consistently found that there are
numerous cost-effective opportunities to use electricity more
efficiently and to avoid the costs and pollution associated with
new plant construction and still have the same energy services,
they are:-
¾ Improvements in the building services.
¾ Improvements in the efficiency of electric equipment.
¾ Lighting improvements.
¾ Net efficiency gains from shifting energy sources from Fig.2 shows major countries emitting CO2 in 2012
fossil fuels to electricity (electrification).
One third of the CO2 emissions in India are due to
¾ Optimization of electricity use through better energy
Electricity generation & Heat as shown in Fig.3
management control systems, shifts in time of use, and
consumer behavior and preference changes.

A. Present Scenario in India

Demand for power in India has been increasing due to the
rising population, growing economy, and changing lifestyles
with Coal having the major capacity and major contribution on
CO2 emission as shown in Fig.1.

Fig.3 CO2 emissions – Sources in India

B. National Electrical Policy

By the end of 2012,Indian National Electricity Policy
(2005) aims:

Fig.1 Break-up of installed generation capacity.
With the ever increasing demand for power, CO2 emissions
are following the increasing trend. As per the statistics taken in
September-2012, India alone contributes 6% of the total CO2
emissions in world with Europe, USA & China topping the list
as shown in Fig.2.
¾ Per capita availability 1000 units
¾ Installed capacity over 200,000 MW
¾ Spinning reserves 5%
¾ Minimum lifeline consumption of one unit per
household per day
¾ Inter-regional transmission capacity 37,000 MW
¾ Energy efficiency/conservation savings about 15%
¾ Quality and reliable power supply.
 II. ENERGY EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES IN
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
As global energy demand continues to grow, actions to
increase energy efficiency will be essential. The technical
opportunities are myriad and potential savings real, but
consumers and utilities have so far been slow to invest in the
most cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies available.
The energy efficiency of buildings, electric equipment, and
appliances in use falls far short of what is technically
attainable. Energy analysts have attributed this efficiency gap
to a variety of market, institutional and technical constraints.
Electric utility energy efficiency techniques have great
potential to narrow this gap and achieve significant energy
savings. This paper provides some of the recent trends in
energy efficiency technologies that have been successful and
also used widely worldwide. They are:
Fig. 4 Energy Efficient Technologies
A. Energy Efficient Motors
It is estimated that Electrical Motor-Driven Systems
account for between 43% and 46% of all global electricity
consumption.
This paper provides a detailed study considering a lower
bound of 0.75 kW and an upper bound of 200 kW into account
the standard power sizes and the new proposed International
Electro technical Commission (IEC) 60034 ϋ 30 efficiency
classification standard on motor efficiency as shown in Fig.5.
Fig. 5 Efficiency classes for fourϋpole motors of standard IE3, IE2 and IE1
classes, and the new IE4 class
IE3 & IE4 Motors have high efficiency at any ambient
temperature. Hence these are costly than IE2 Motors. The
materials cost of the motor is increased by a few percent. While
trying to reduce copper losses, we end up increasing core loss.
Hence the starting current of motor is high (approx. 9.24 times
including IS tolerance), which increases fault levels and in turn
cable size.
However these disadvantages are overcome as the payback
period for the customer can be as little as six months for a
continuously loaded motor.
Thus energy-efficient electric motors reduce energy losses
through improved design, better materials, and improved
manufacturing techniques. Replacing a motor may be
justifiable solely on the electricity cost savings derived from an
energy-efficient replacement. This is true if the motor runs
continuously, power rates are high, the motor is oversized for
the application, or its nominal efficiency has been reduced by
damage or previous rewinds.
Economical benefits and energy savings are illustrated
through a Case Study in Chapter-III of this paper.
B. Soft Starter with energy savers
When starting, AC Induction motor develops more torque
than is required at full speed. This stress is transferred to the
mechanical transmission system resulting in excessive wear
and premature failure of chains, belts, gears, mechanical seals,
etc. Additionally, rapid acceleration also has a massive impact
on electricity supply charges with high inrush currents drawing
+600% of the normal run current.
Soft starter provides a reliable and economical solution to
these problems by delivering a controlled release of power to
the motor, thereby providing smooth, step less acceleration and
deceleration. Motor life will be extended as damage to
windings and bearings is reduced.
 However, as the % loading increases, the % savings
decrease. Energy savings are of appreciable quantity only if the
time period is more than 5yrs.
C. Variable speed drives
When discussing energy savings and variable frequency
drives (VFD) the attention often focuses on a centrifugal fan or
pump application. However, one should not overlook other
applications which also have large potential energy savings and
energy recovery. Applications involving regeneration, power
factor correction, common bus applications or a combination of
the three can also quickly achieve a significant reduction in
energy use.
In variable torque applications, the torque required varies
with the square of the speed, and the horsepower required
varies with the cube of the speed, resulting in a large reduction
of horsepower for even a small reduction in speed. The motor
will consume only 12.5% as much energy at 50% speed than at
100% speed as shown in Fig. 6. The following laws illustrate
these relationships:
¾ Flow is proportional to speed
¾ Torque is proportional to (speed)2
3 Lamps
¾ Power is proportional to (speed)
Fig. 6 Power savings using VFD
D. Energy efficient Transformers
Most energy loss in dry-type transformers occurs through
heat or vibration from the core. The strategy developed to
make power available to all by 2012 includes promotion of
energy efficient products and its conservation in the country,
which is found to be the least cost option to augment the gap
between demand and supply. The new amorphous core
transformers with high efficiency minimize these losses.
The expected reduction in energy loss over conventional (Si
Fe core) transformers is roughly around 70%, which is quite
significant. By using this amorphous core– with unique
physical and magnetic properties- these new types of
transformers have increased efficiencies even at low loads -
98.5% efficiency at 35% load.
E. Electronic Ballast
The conventional ballasts make use of the spike caused by
sudden physical disruption of current in an inductive circuit to
produce the high voltage required for starting the lamp and
then rely on reactive voltage drop in the ballast to reduce the
voltage applied across the lamp.
One of the major advantages of electronic ballast is the
enormous energy savings it provides. This is achieved in two
ways. The first is its amazingly low internal core loss, quite
unlike old fashioned magnetic ballasts. And second is
increased light output due to the excitation of the lamp with
high frequency. If the period of frequency of excitation is
smaller than the light retention time constant for the gas in the
lamp, the gas will stay ionized and, therefore, produce light
continuously. This phenomenon along with continued
persistence of the phosphors at high frequency will improve
light output from 8-12%. This is possible only with high
frequency electronic ballast
F. Occupancy sensors & enery efficient lighting control &
These sensors switch lighting ON when occupancy is detected,
and OFF again after a set time period, when no occupancy
movement detected. They are designed to override manual
switches and to prevent a situation where lighting is left on in
unoccupied spaces. With this type of system it is important to
incorporate a built-in time delay, since occupants often remain
still or quiet for short periods and do not appreciate being
plunged into darkness if not constantly moving around.
CFL have taken over from incandescent bulbs and the present
trend is LED’s which save more energy while providing the
same lux levels.
Proposed activities:
1. Timer circuits for external locations viz. Coal yard,
Coke / Ferrous Stock houses etc are to be provided.
2. Connecting photo sensitive devices to the lighting
panels which are operated manually.
3. Reducing operating voltage by adjusting lighting
transformer tap( where-ever possible )
4. Replacement of incandescent lamps by CFL and
energy efficient lamps like LED’s.
5. For street lighting applications, implementation of
Solar cells & LED’s will result in higher energy
saving.
6. To change the timer setting of O&S building
Centralized AC so as to switch it OFF earlier during
evening peak.
 III. CASE STUDY C. Comparison between Fan and Pump
The following case studies have been performed for a steel Parameter FAN (6.6kV) PUMP (6.6kV)
plant especially for rolling mills with data collected over a Power factor improvement 0.97 0.97
period of 2 years.
The following table (Table. I) provides a glimpse energy Motor efficiency 96.5% 97%
efficient technologies & suitability along with payback period Reduction 280kW 219kW
for equipment where there was scope of energy savings.
Average running time per year 5000 hrs. 3200 hrs.
Area Energy efficient Suitability Payback
Technology Energy saving (MWh/year) 1400 700.8

Motors Energy efficient Motors Very Good 1-1.5yrs Table. IV Energy Savings with VFD

Soft starters

Mill motor VFD Very Good 6-8months D. Energy Savings with Soft Starters
% Loading % Savings
Water Pumps VFD Very Good 6-8months

Blower pump VFD Very Good 6-8months 10 58

Lighting Energy efficient control Good 1.5-2yrs 20 37

30 20
Table. I Energy efficient technologies in rolling mills
40 11
Energy savings provided here are only for a Fan and Pump.
50 7
However, the same philosophy has been followed for other
motors like conveyors & Mill motors. 60 4.5

70 3
A. Status without VFD
80 2
Measurement
Parameter 90 1.5
FAN (6.6kV) PUMP (6.6kV)
Table. V %Energy Savings with Soft Starters
Motor Rating 1760 775

Total air flow at full load 650TPH -

E. Energy Savings with energy efficient Transformers
Flow - 10000m3/hr In this case study we considered a iron-steel industry with
Fan Speed 600RPM 560RPM average electricity loading of 60 MW. About 30 MW of the
loading is used at higher voltages (mainly high-voltage motors)
Current 182A 88A
and are therefore not distributed by distribution transformers.
Peak Power Consumption 1760kW 775kW The electricity consumption is relatively constant during 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.
Table. II Energy without VFD
The transformer rating is between 630 kVA and 4000 kVA.
There are about 20 transformers. 10 transformers (50%) are
B. Running with VFD 1250 kVA; 25% of the transformers 1600 kVA and 25% other
Measurement ratings. Almost all transformers are dry-type transformers
Parameter because of problems in the past with PCB in oil. Most of the
FAN (6.6kV) PUMP (6.6kV)
transformers have been replaced with Amorphous Core
Motor Rating 1760 775 transformers. We evaluated the energy saving between the
normal dry-transformers and the amorphous core dry type
Total air flow at full load 650TPH -
transformers for the ratings 1250 and 1600 kVA compared
Flow - 10000m3/hr with the actual present transformers.
Fan Speed 580RPM 490RPM If the life cycle of the already existing dry type
Current 145A 45A transformers is exceeded, amorphous core transformer with
high efficiency and low losses can replace these existing dry
Peak Power Consumption 1480kW 556kW type transformers.
Table. III Status with VFD
 Transformer Unit Dry type Amorphous Diffe- The intent of this paper is to bring out the salient energy
transfor- Core Dry type rence efficient technologies prevailing today. This should not be
mer transformer
considered as a guideline for the energy saving for electrical
rating kVA 1250 1250 systems. Depending upon the system requirement and usage,
the appropriate and most suitable energy efficient methodology
no-load loss W 2400 2200 -200 can be adopted which doesn’t affect the system performance.
load loss W 13568 11712 -1856
REFERENCES
Annual losses kWh/ 71241 62618 -8623
a
[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2001. IPCC
CO2 emission @ ton/a 28,5 25,0 -3,5
Special Report on the Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An
0,4 kg/kWh
Assessment of Vulnerability.
Pay back (years) 2.5 [2] Walters, D. 1999a. Energy Efficient Motors – Saving Money or Costing
the Earth? Part 1. IEE Power Engineering Journal, 25–30, February.
Table. VI Energy Savings with Energy efficient Transformer [3] B. Roisin, M. Bodart, A. Deneyer, P. D’Herdt, Lighting energy savings
in offices using different control systems and their real consumption,
Energy and Buildings; 40 (2008); p. 514-523.
F. Energy efficient lighting controls, Ballasts & Lamps [4] M. Wilson, Saving on Energy, Using lighting efficiently can have a big
impact on the bottom line, Chain Store Age; Aug 2008; 84, 8; p.114.
The Combination of Occupancy Sensors & lighting
controls resulted in a saving of 27,275kWh per year.
No. of Wattage kWhr Annual
Lamps (kW) (1day) kWhr

Original 1524 42.786 213.93 51,344

system
After 1524 40.057 100.285 24,068
implement
ation of
above

Table. VII Savings with Sensors, efficient lighting Control

The Combination of Occupancy Sensors & New Fittings

(energy efficient lamps) resulted in a saving of 38274.9kWh
per year with a payback period of 4 years.

No. of Wattage kWhr Annual

Lamps (kW) (1day) kWhr

Original 482 21.584 213.93 69,173.8

system
After 446 21.486 200.285 30,898.9
implement
ation of
above

Table. VIII Savings with sensors, energy efficient lamps

IV. CONCLUSION
India targets 9 – 10% economic growth rate in a sustainable
manner over next 10-15 years. Over last 10-15 years, private
investments are being encouraged, particularly in petroleum,
natural gas and power. While India is fully committed to
develop and expand its energy markets, it is equally committed
to ensure environmental safeguards. Using latest cost effective
technologies in all the energy segments forms an important part
of policy and strategy.