America’s energy supply crunch is driving a surge of federal and private investment in new electricity generation — from polluting gas turbines to cleaner developments like solar farms and geothermal plants. But gigawatts of power are already available for the taking across the U.S. economy in the form of wasted energy from an unexpected source: motors.

Some 50 million electric motors drive the fans, pumps, and compressors found in virtually every factory and building. Together, they gobble enough electricity to equal nearly a third of total U.S. power demand. Often, the motors use far more energy than they actually need to keep America’s machines humming.

Companies can install devices known as variable frequency drives, or VFDs, to make motors run super efficiently. Yet adoption remains relatively low, in part because of the perceived hassle of retrofitting equipment and because they’re typically not required. On average, only 16 percent of motor systems at industrial facilities and 4 percent of commercial-sector motors use VFDs, according to a 2021 market report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

However, there are now more reasons than ever to equip the nation’s motors with power-saving devices, energy experts and device manufacturers say. They’re urging federal agencies, utilities, and deep-pocked tech giants to spur a wider rollout of VFDs through financial incentives and efficiency standards.

For one, slashing motors’ power use would free up grid capacity for large electricity users like data centers and electric vehicles, they argue. It would help curb costs for factories that are switching from fossil-fueled heating systems to electrified, motor-based solutions like heat pumps — all at a time when industrial power prices are climbing fast.

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