Energy nerds may be calculating emissions every time they turn on their cars, but they may not realize that some motors are burning far more energy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Industrial motor systems burn far more energy and emit much more CO2 than the average person realizes, several GE executives told Breaking Energy in a recent phone conversation (in total these systems account for roughly 25-30% of the United States’ total energy consumption.) They said that if industrial facility operators in the US adopted high-efficiency motors like the ones GE sells, those industries could save $3-5 billion annually in electric bills and could reduce CO₂ emissions by 15-26 million metric tons per year, about the same as taking 3-5 million passenger vehicles off the road. Keep reading →