Best-practice motor management: efficient electric motors cost a little more but save a lot.

In some industries, as much as 90 percent of a company's electric bill can go toward keeping electric motors humming. Motor energy costs can exceed $1 million a year in large industrial plants. And in steel plants, they can exceed $6 million. But few people are paying attention.

A group of motor industry manufacturers and service centers, trade associations, electric utilities, and government agencies called the Consortium for Energy Efficiency is trying to change that.

Through a national campaign called Motor Decisions Matter, the consortium is offering too