95 Globalization Impact in Technological Changes towards Electric Drive Efficiency A. Spahiu, P. Marango Polytechnic University of Tirana Electrical Engineering Faculty Department of Automatic Control Blvd. Deshmoret e Kombit, 4 Tirana, Albania aida_spahiu@yahoo.com, petmara@yahoo.com Abstract: The saving electric energy is an important factor of economic growth, which indicates sustainable growth of the nation’s economy. The saving electric energy is one of the main priorities of energy strategy in Albania. One the most important factor there is the efficiency of electric drive. It has great impact on energy security, local and regional air pollution reduction and environment. Actually, Albania is on phase of technology changes in all fields, including industry and service sectors. The best way there is replacement of low efficient electric drive with energy efficient one according to the EU directives. This replacement brings huge potentials of energy saving and globalization impact to the country’s economy. Keywords: efficiency, electric drive, electrical machine, energy saving, pump, variable speed drive 1. INTRODUCTION During the last century energy consumption increased more than 5 times. This means that society expenses connected with extraction, processing and consumption of energy resources will grow. The tendencies observed in the world for the last 2-3 decades show the stable decrease of the rate of energy resources. Civilization tends to be in charge of power resources thriftily. In the future, the cost of energy will increase due to environmental problems and limited resources. The best electrical engineering and electro- mechanics including search for more economic solutions. Energy efficiency is on everyone’s mind today. The best kWh is the one that is saved. The saving electric energy, even in industrially developed countries, where market economy keenly responds to any changes of general economic state of the market, increases involved market expenses of time and means. It is often more cost effective to invest in end-user energy efficiency improvement than in increasing energy supply to satisfy demand for energy services. Efficiency improvement has a positive effect on energy security, local and regional air pollution reduction and employment. The availability of energy supplies in Albania is one of the key limitations on economic growth. Although, a high proportion of electrical energy comes from clean hydro- power, the inefficient use of energy by industries and service sectors seems to be one of the largest contributors to air pollution. Reduction of energy consumption and sustainable energy use in industrial and service sectors of Albania through the improvements of energy efficiency is one of the priorities of Albania included in the National Strategy of Energy (Albanian Government, 2005). Albanian is undergoing a wide ranging rehabilitation process of existing industrial capacities and has to start a new development and investment cycle (Shalsi. A, 2009). The implications of these issues are far beyond the sole implementations of technical solutions and security of energy supply. A creative approach to the rehabilitation process including new and innovative energy technologies will bring additional environmental benefits and impact directly on country’s ability to compete on the European market. Energy efficiency improvement will reduce production costs and consequently make a tangible contribution towards a wide range of environmental goals and related environmental effects. For the most part high power consumption in economy is the result of using energy wasteful technologies and equipment, marked losses of energy resources, irrational economy structure. Energy saving statistics in the world shows the tendency of accelerations of the consumption rates. Among energy consumers an electric drive is considered to be the main one. Quick-growing interest to a variable speed drive elaboration and its introduction in the systems of thermal supply, hot and cold water supply of communal economy derive from this fact. An automated drive market analysis points out the fact that a variable speed drive based on induction motor is in the greatest demand. Practicable energy saving may be provided while changing a non-variable speed electric drive with induction motor which is used everywhere for a variable speed drive. Motor driven systems consume about 65% of industrial electricity in the European Union. New products and techniques hold great promise for large electricity savings. Implementing high efficiency motor driven systems, or Workshop on Supplemental Ways for Improving International Stability (SWIIS 2010) Prishtina, Kosovo, October 27-29, 2010 ISBN 978-3-902661-92-0/11/$20.00 © 2010 IFAC 1