Energy efficiency movement, policy impact and market transformation in electrical motor industry: Empirical study on Eco-design regulation adoption in ABB IEC Low Voltage Motor

Energy intensity has been improved on average by 1.3% a year and is aimed to be below 4% as described in the Net Zero Emission by 2050 Scenario over 2020-2030. Energy efficiency has been the essential strategy to achieve this goal. Governments and public decision makers around the world are looking for the most promising ways to reduce energy consumption and emissions in order to achieve sustainability targets. Businesses, companies, and appli-ance manufacturers hold the keys to produce the applications necessary to effect energy-efficient use. Particularly in the industrial sectors, efficiency policies play a vital role in ena-bling development and driving the market towards the energy efficient products which are required by the legislative policies in specific industries. This thesis studies the electrical motor in terms of energy efficiency, the most relevant elec-trical motor efficiency policies, and market transformation. The study employs an empirical case to a) describe the role of the electrical motor in energy efficiency; b) to review electrical motor efficiency policies and efficiency calcification standards; c) to focus in particular on European energy efficiency framework and Ecodesign directives; d) to observe and review business implementation such as product portfolio development in the adoption of Ecodesgin regulation; e) to collect quantitative data on past market deliverables and conduct a future market demand survey within the case company. The findings are summarized in terms of the impact of energy efficiency policies, the transformation of the electrical motor market and trends driven by efficiency policies and existing optimized technical solutions and products beyond existing standards that are available on the market. Moreover, at the end, the author discusses and recommends energy savings which are achievable and potentially much higher by addressing energy efficiency improvements on total motor driven systems instead of individual components. Further efforts to develop standards and policies in this regard are crucial. In addition, obstacles in today’s global energy market such as the impact of COVID-19 and political issues, must be looked at and taken into consideration in further studies.