Energy saving by power electronics: towards a new concept of renewable source

Abstract

The use of fossil sources has been increasing the excess of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in the atmosphere since the last century with detrimental to the weather. Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) appear a valid solution to mitigate CO2 emissions but their growth is still too small compared to fossil sources, for this reason they need to be sustained by available technologies. Among these, the use of More Power Electronics (MPE) for electrical energy conversion leads to increase efficiency conversion and the investment is compensated in few time both for new equipment and retrofitting. The saved energy meets the definition of renewable energy. The whole amount of the energy saving potential achievable by MPE is comparable to the electric energy generated by the installed renewable sources.