Can Electronics Save the World?

Image Source: Frendev/stock.adobe.com; generated with AI

By Mark Patrick, Mouser Electronics

Published July 7, 2026

Electric motor-driven systems have had a major impact on the planet…and it hasn’t all been positive. However, with a little lateral thinking to improve their energy efficiency, total global electricity demand could be cut by about 10 percent. In sustainability terms, that’s a goal worth pursuing.

Of course, much has already been done to counter the effects of industrial pollution, and many more changes are undoubtedly around the corner. The electronics industry has a direct role to play in developing innovations that will encourage green energy production, reduce energy consumption, minimize maintenance, and prevent unnecessary waste. At the heart of this is the electric motor-driven system (EMDS).

Global Electricity Consumption

A statistic in a 2011 report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that electric motor-driven systems are the largest single-energy end users and account for more than 40 percent of global electricity consumption.^[1] Motor-driven systems consume over twice as much energy as lighting. A report by the US Department of Energy went further, claiming that EMDSs at the time consumed “over half of all electricity in the United States and over 70 percent of all electricity in many industrial plants.”^[2]

The IEA report states that if no remedial action is taken, by 2030, energy consumption from electric motors could rise to 13,360TWh a year and annual CO₂ emissions to 8,570 million tonnes (Mt). End users would spend almost $900 billion per annum on electricity used in EDMSs. The body also reported that the industrial sector was by far the greatest consumer of EMDS electricity (64 percent), compared to 13 percent in the residential sector. Drilling deeper into the figures, the IEA estimated that while large electric motors with more than 375kW of output power accounted for just 0.03 percent of the electric motor stock, they were responsible for around 23 percent of all motor power consumption and over 10 percent of total global energy consumption (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Projected global electric motor-system electricity consumption. (Source: “Energy-Efficiency Policy Opportunities for Electric Motor-Driven Systems,” International Energy Agency, is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

Optimizing EMDSs

On a positive note, the IEA’s report highlighted significant untapped potential for energy efficiency in EMDSs. The report stressed the need to scale up operations to realize the vast savings potential of optimized systems. It calculated that the most efficient motors could typically save 4 percent to 5 percent of all electric motor energy consumption. Also, if the energy efficiency of motor systems improved by between 20 percent and 30 percent, this could bring total global electricity demand down by around 10 percent.

The report added that even larger savings could be achieved if all EMDSs were fully optimized. It estimated that improving EMDS efficiency could save 42,000TWh of electricity demand, 29Gt of CO₂ emissions, and $2.8 trillion in electricity costs by 2030.

It’s clear from this insight that electric motor design and maintenance must play a central role in countries’ sustainability efforts worldwide by optimizing the efficiency of motor-driven systems. Productivity would improve, and significant amounts of energy (and money) would be saved. Because the vast majority of electricity consumed by an EMDS is used by the electric motor itself, engineering and maintenance teams need to focus on optimizing motor control and operation. These efforts will have a major and direct impact on energy consumption.

Applying Edge AI to MEMS

One of the most effective approaches engineering teams can take to improving the efficiency of EMDSs is to apply edge AI to a preventive maintenance strategy. Using the power of edge AI with microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensing devices can enable more accurate monitoring of a device’s running condition, reducing electric motor consumption. Real-time sensor data that was previously unavailable can be used to identify anomalies early and predict when a machine is likely to fail. By allowing problems to be addressed much earlier than before, edge AI MEMS sensors would not only avoid costly downtime but, more importantly, boost the efficiency of an EMDS, enabling it to consume less energy.

At the same time, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and installations around the world is now in the millions, while neural networks are more commercially advanced, parallel computation is no longer in its infancy, and 5G/6G technology is coming of age. This means that the industrial sector is better placed than ever to take advantage of the improved insights that edge AI can deliver while also cutting operational costs.

Motor Control Efficiency

Because the condition and reliability of a motor directly impact productivity and uptime, efficient motor control is essential. The US Department of Energy report states that three key factors affect drive system efficiency: power quality, motor and transmission efficiency, and monitoring and maintenance. Health monitoring, it said, was essential.

The IEA report also identified three key ways to make significant savings in this area:

• Use properly sized and energy-efficient motors.
• Use adjustable-speed drives (ASDs) wherever possible to match the motor speed and torque to the system’s mechanical load requirements.
• Optimize the entire system by having a correctly sized motor, efficient gears and transmissions, and efficient end-use equipment to achieve minimal energy losses.

Minimum Energy Performance Standards

One way to keep consumption down and efficiency up in motor-driven systems is to set minimum energy performance standards (MEPSs) that designers must adhere to. According to the IEA, in the European Union in 2010, industrial and residential systems governed by MEPSs accounted for just 38 percent of total motor electricity consumption.

Another way to boost motor efficiency is to leverage wide-bandgap semiconductor technologies, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). Offering a larger bandgap than conventional semiconductors, wide-bandgap semiconductors allow higher voltages to be applied. They also speed up switching, reducing thermal losses in motors and increasing their efficiency.

GaN in particular has become the designer’s choice because it has a 3.4eV bandgap compared to SiC’s 1.12eV. This wider bandgap enables the semiconductor to sustain even higher voltages and temperatures than silicon MOSFETs. Cost savings are achieved by using smaller and lighter magnetics and reducing the system’s cooling requirements. Also, GaN semiconductors likely offer the lowest device cost, as they produce fewer losses than SiC semiconductors and generate less volume because they use smaller passive components. The overall effect is reduced system costs.

Green Energy Solution

Advances in preventive maintenance for electric motor-driven systems have the potential to significantly reduce energy use and demand. The IEA report states that boosting the energy efficiency of electric motor-driven systems by 20-30 percent would reduce global electricity demand by roughly 10 percent.

This is the challenge facing the electronics industry, which plays a key role in reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and leading the way in green energy production. In particular, designers of EMDSs need to use all available tools to boost efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

Sources

[1]https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-policy-opportunities-for-electric-motor-driven-systems
[2]https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/04/f15/mc-0381.pdf