Energy efficiency in ventilation motors

One of the most important challenges for the European Union is the quest for energy efficiency across its territory. Within the group of countries gathered under the umbrella of the institution, pioneering measures in ecology and the search for alternative resources have always been implemented. This is also true for ventilation motors, which are required to demonstrate increasingly lower consumption.

The energy efficiency is also a way to face the crisis brought by the scarcity of energy resources, as well as to reconvert industries so that our spending on supplies is lower and helps curb climate change. One of the directives currently underway in the EU applies to products known as ErP. These acronyms mean Energy-related Products, which in English means energy-related products.

The technical name of the directive that directly affects ventilation motors is Ecodesign 2009/125/EC. It sets mandatory requirements for eco-design that respect the environment and is also important for air conditioning appliances or boilers.

This directive falls within the European Union's goal to reduce consumption by 20%. It also aims for 20% of energy to be produced from renewables. All of this has a deadline of the year 2020. Therefore, the goal of this directive is known as 20-20-20. Environmental design is favored, and it aims to reduce CO2 emissions.

Ecology and ventilation motors

The European Community estimates that most of the electrical power demanded by member countries belongs to motors that require electricity within the production processes. This need could be approximately 70% of the electricity needed in industries. To determine the consumption of ventilation motors and others, a classification known as the IE code was created with four categories. IE1 is the least energy-efficient within this group and IE4 is the one that achieves the highest energy efficiency. For example, IE1 means "standard efficiency", while IE4 is considered "premium efficiency".

In 2011, the EU enacted the first phase of regulation of this directive, requiring all manufacturers of ventilation motors to implement a minimum IE code level of 2. This was the first step towards having more efficient motors. In 2015, the regulation was tightened to require that electric motors of 7.5 kW or more meet IE3 or IE2 if they had variable speed.

In this year, the last guidelines of this directive regarding electric motors were imposed. Since then, the use of IE3 has been mandatory, except in some cases.

What are the main benefits of using IE3 ventilation motors?

• They enjoy greater energy efficiency. They consume less while developing more power.
• They are environmentally friendly. They reduce CO2 emissions.
• They are more reliable as they require less energy.
• The motors suffer less and are less stressed, which makes them last longer.

The benefits of this directive from the European Union are remarkable considering the forecasts of the community body. Twelve years ago, when this regulation was launched, the annual consumption of the European Community was 1067 TWh. The EU's calculations were that by 2020, consumption would have grown by 17.3% to 1252 TWh. However, thanks to the restrictions of the IE code, it is expected that by that date, consumption will not only not have increased but will be reduced by 20%.

For the consumer, purchasing a fan certified as IE3 will provide a greater return on investment. It is assumed that during the useful life of a fan, only 2.5% of its cost is attributed to the purchase price, while energy costs will account for up to 96% of what is invested in it. In three months, a fan could have consumed in energy what its purchase price was. Therefore, using high energy efficiency ventilation motors represents an economic benefit even in the short term. As do other changes that come about thanks to the directives of the European Union, such as the use of heat recovery units.