LOVINS' OTHER FRAUD

Nevertheless, aiming to cater to the Lovinsian hype about ener-gy efficiency, a bill (House of Lords HR 2451, Seniles S1220) would force manufacturers and buyers to use only premium motors according to a table to be voted on by the likes of Metzen-baum, Cranston and Dellums. For example, for most categories of 30 kW motors, they would be required to attain efficiencies of 95% or better.

These efficiencies are decreed by their lordships as the ones for the "nominal full load," e.g., for a 20 kW motor for when it is run-ning steadily at 20 kW. To see the unbelievable idiocy of this, go back to cars, to be specific, say, to a 5-seat passenger car. The max-imum efficiency of a car is achieved at a certain speed, around 50 mph, when its torque is very small. Suppose (and this surely must be coming some day), the seniles and the check-bouncing freeloaders decide that Detroit shall make 5-seat passenger cars only with that efficiency or higher.

Fine. A country that is getting used to central planning and to having energy conservation achieved by legislative coercion deser-ves no less. The only trouble is there is no way you will ever get the car on the road under its own power, because at low speeds (high torques) its efficiency is very lousy: you know that, or you could save gasoline by always driving, perhaps from Boston to Los An-geles, in low gear.

So what are you going to do? The simplest is to have a 200 HP engine installed in your car (60 to 80 HP is normal). Such powerful engines are used for bulldozers, racing cars and the propulsion of ships. Bigger engines are more efficient, and they will be powerful enough to get your moving from rest. They will also waste fuel and energy like crazy, but efficiency is the big buzzword of the central planners now, so just comply with the law made by those who know what's good for you.

For electric motors the situation is the same. The higher the consumed power, the higher the efficiency, for a 1 HP motor it is "only" 80%, but it rises to 95% for 200 HP. Suppose you have an application that requires frequent starting, so that your motor runs at top efficiency only a small fraction of the time, when it is going at full speed. Then if this monstrous legislation is passed, the only way you can stay in business is to buy a motor with a much higher power rating than necessary, because that's the only one that will not blow the fuses when you try to start it. You waste energy, but so what? Everybody has a car, so the pols have to listen to the owners, but only a few have industrial motors. Business will pass the cost on to its customers, and Big Business like IBM above even beats itself in the breast about it. And the Greens have scored another great victory as they shove you deeper into the recession.

It is of course possible, to make the electrical and electronic equivalent of a gearbox enabling to keep the efficiency high at all speeds and torques. They are manufactured by Saftronics of Ft. Myers, Fla., whose president B. Posma is a long-time AtE sub-scriber. Although he stands to make a handsome profit from his equipment if this insane bill passes (but keeping efficiency high is profitable without pols interfering), he wrote to his senator Connie Mack explaining briefly why the bill entailed waste of energy, more regulation of industry, shortchanging the customer, and making the resulting overpriced US products even less competitive in the world market.

". . . Last year I and other members of the Florida delegation," the most honorable senator's word processor answered in a per-sonalized letter, "were successful in imposing a one year moratorium on another Interior Department proposal to lease oil and gas tracts in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Be assured, our nation's energy policy and its possible side effects on the environ-ment will continue to remain a priority for me . . ."