I have discovered that most ECM motors operate at POWER FACTORS in the 50 to 60 percent range. What this means is that they require 40 to 50 percent generated power than you are lead to believe if you were only comparing the apparent power, watts to power output. The terrible truth is that ECM motors run at extremely low power factors and they introduce high frequency harmonics into the power systems that can not be easily corrected with passive power factor corrections. This is also true for some forms of “HIGH EFFICIECY LIGHTING”, computer power supplies etc….

Your programs are supporting for example super high efficiency refrigerators and are encouraging the use of ECM motors to achieve such goals.

My question to you is why are we ignoring the low POWER FACTORS inherent in these devices? Generated power is what is important and generated power is based on ACTUAL POWER which is the vector sum of apparent power and reactive power.

I am the Chief Engineer of a small HVAC manufacturer, and I deal with rating these products. As a member of ASHRAE and participant on ARI committees, I see this as an important issue in future energy debates.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.

Thanks,