Machine drives, which are primarily electric motors, pumps, and fans, account for about half of the manufacturing sector’s delivered electricity use and 8% of the sector’s total fuel consumption. Their wide use across many industries results in a substantial impact on the demand placed on power grids. EIA’s AEO2013 projects that the continuing increase in the energy efficiency of machine drives offsets an increase in industrial output, resulting in relatively flat levels of electricity consumption by machine drives.

via Today in Energy http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=13431