Energy and Politics

Yeah, we’re going to get into the “Green” technology issue. But I want to consider the public policy side of energy conservation. This is at least as big a topic and will require several installments, but for today, we’ll talk in terms of motors and controls.

My clothes washer quite recently. The centrifugal switch on the dual winding ac motor got clogged and the motor burned out. It would cost about half the price of a new machine to replace the motor if I did the repair. And we would still have a 12 year old washing machine that had some problems.

So we bit the bullet and replaced the machine with a new one. GE claims that the washer will save 1/3 of the electricity that would be required to run the old machine. Nice. And the new machine has no transmission, REALLY nice. It makes almost no sound while running.

I am guessing, and will try to confirm for a future article, that the new system is based on the switched reluctance motor and drive which has the virtue of being totally programmable. You can program on the fly the desired speed torque curve for low speed/high torque or high speed/low torque, eliminating the need for mechanical transmissions in many two speed applications. In the past, this approach was considered too expensive, but in the presence of declining costs of permanent magnet materials and cheaper power semiconductors, the trade off was probably positive.

So here are the facts:

In the US we manufactured 9.4 million washing machines in 2005. The average energy cost has been reduced by 30% on a baseline of 480 kw/yr. That would be an estimated saving of 1.5 Trillion kw (terawatts?) if 1 year’s production of energy saving washing machines replace older machines.

In recent years, the US Department of Energy has spent about $7B a year looking for ways to improve energy consumption patterns and fund alternative energy programs. So when DOE puts $50M into a competitive program to improve refrigerator efficiency, or similar amounts into the creation of the Neptune washing machine, is this proper use of taxpayer funds, or is DOE subsidizing private enterprise. Surely the Westinghouse corporation could afford the development if they were convinced that it would sell lots of new washing machines.

Consumers have typically had very limited impact on product performance issues. Look at the US car market. US buyers have asked for higher mileage vehicles for decades. US manufacturers have refused to develop them. The US Government has legislated increased mileage standard, and the car companies have avoided responding with the excuse that its too difficult or will take longer than the Government mandate allows. The result is that we have lost at least 1/3 of the US car market to foreign suppliers. That’s a lot of American jobs lost, and lost to poor corporate leadership.

American manufacturers do not seem to be listening. The old philosophy was to resist change because new designs cost money. DOE seems willing to underwrite some of those costs. So why are so many of our key industries stagnating? The electronics industry gets it. They are too new to have learned the old way. Instead they keep inventing new things to peak our interest and get our dollars.

America needs our industrial base in order to prosper, to provide employment and produce goods that people want. American manufacturing needs leaders who understand the role of innovation as the engine of progress.