Despite activities to introduce low-carbon energy sources worldwide, the share of conventional facilities burning organic fuels remains high. One approach to address this problem is to look for solutions to reduce energy consumption. There are various research projects in the area of energy efficiency that lead to diverse results—such as models, methodologies, new data and theories. On the other hand, induction motor drives are becoming a major consumer of electric power because of their wide range of applications. In this paper, after careful selection and systematization of 151 literature sources, an extensive study and criteria analysis of the existing state of affairs in the area of energy efficiency improvement of induction motor drives has been carried out. Five major and 48 minor research areas in this field have been identified. The results show that issues related to the adaptation of scientific results and the conditions for their effective and wide-ranging application in practice have not been discussed and investigated so far. Adaptation should take into account the possibilities of data acquisition, including data from measurements; the competences of energy managers; and the type of information provided to them. Based on the seven conclusions formulated below, summary recommendations are made to direct future research towards the justification of models for increasing the power efficiency of induction drives, adapted for use by energy managers.

This paper presents a novel developed model for calculating the totally useful power in the systems for continuous transport of fluids and bulk cargoes, allowing deeper and more functional analysis of the energy efficiency of this systems by physically based decomposition of the electricity consumption of a useful and unhelpful ingredient. The model consists of nine mathematical expressions by which, after determining the type of system, the physically required minimum possible power consumption can be calculated and compared with the total consumption. A pumping system for the transport of condensate water from a deaerator to the drum of a steam generator of a thermal power plant has been selected as the subject of the model demonstration experiment. In the investigation carried out, the basis power of the pumping system was 606.6 kW and the total losses were about 302 kW. Other energy efficiency indices have also been identified. The researches should be continued in the direction of algorithmization of the model and its justification mainly for the Type II systems.

An aggregate algorithmized conceptual model for controlling the energy efficiency in the steam-power plants, with taking into account the deviations in the qualitative characteristics of the used fuel, is proposed and justified. The model is applied for a coal-fired power plant, at two of its stages, through simulations in MATLAB Simulink and analyzing some of the data with the program Statistica. The development creates preconditions to algorithmize (to model) comprehensive energy efficiency measures in the operating plants, and to design and build new systems for monitoring and controlling the auxiliary electric power demand.