Frost & Sullivan’s VSD report hides the deeper truth

Frost & Sullivan’s recent report on the use of Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) in the food and beverage market made headline news for all the wrong reasons. It presented the fact that VSDs are dropping in price by three per cent per year as its most significant finding. Furthermore, many of the news reports buried the most important results – the fact that electric motors consume two thirds of the energy used in the F&B sector.

A cursory analysis of a three per cent drop in price for variable speed drives demonstrates that the product is holding its own in the recession. For instance compare the price drop to the average cost of an LCD television today and its equivalent five years ago. Suddenly a three per cent drop seems like a figure that can still provide a comparatively high profit margin.

In contrast, compare the amount of energy used in the F&B sector now to the amount used five years ago, when the automation of the industry was substantially less advanced than it is today. There were thousands fewer electric motors in use, thousands fewer opportunities to save energy using VSDs and millions of pounds less being spent on energy.  

The bottom line is that 66% of all industrial energy, not just the F&B industry is used by motors and 97% of motor lifetime cost is energy. The financial gains provided by VSD control are uncomplicated and compelling. In comparison a three per cent price drop doesn’t seem like headline news to me.