Are KVAR Units a Scam?

Kilovolt Amp Reduction units, also known as KVAR units, have been touted as a green power saver that could cut your electricity bill by as much as 30%. Invented by Greg Taylor, a Central Florida Electrical Engineer, KVAR units utilize the same technology used by large factories and utility companies to "clean" power that is being used inefficiently by electrical motors and any other "reactive load."

Many consumers who have installed KVAR units, claim that their electric bill dropped drastically despite the addition of larger air conditioners, hot tubs, and other power-hungry devices. At an installed cost of around $500, some companies that sell KVAR units estimate a three year payback period.

The KVAR green energy saving device is marketed under many names and by several companies:

• Green Power Box
• EZ Energy Savings
• V-Blox
• Power Flow 1200
• Kilowatt Nanny
• Power Saving Solutions
• PowerwoRx e3

The energy savings estimated by these companies ranges from 3% to 34%, but others have expressed skepticism about the science behind the product. The Department of Energy's Energy Star program had this to say about KVAR units (scientifically known as Power Factor Correction Devices):

We have not seen any data that proves these types of products for residential use accomplish what they claim. Power factor correction devices improve power quality but do not generally improve energy efficiency (meaning they won't reduce your energy bill).

ENERGY STAR does not qualify any Power Factor Correction Devices. Please send us an email at logomisuse@energystar.gov if you see one that claims to be ENERGY STAR certified.

Power factor correction devices are NOT eligible for a federal tax credit.

Energy companies, like Exelon-owned PECO, have refrained from taking a position on the device, stating that because they have not done studies of their own, they cannot comment on the device. This reluctance to issue a public comment may be because the utility company has something to lose, but perhaps not in the way consumers expect.

How do KVAR Units Work?

KVAR units have been in use since the beginning of the AC power grid, but referred to as Power Factor Correction Devices. While consumers think of electricity as a single item, the electrical grid to which they are connected contains two types of power: real power, and reactive power. While deeply scientific explanations of alternating current exist, only a fraction of this knowledge is needed to understand what a KVAR unit does, and what it doesn't do.

• Real power is measured in kilowatts (kW). Kilowatts represent useable power that can be used to do work, like spin motors, run lights, and produce heat.
• Reactive power is measured in kilovars (kVar). Kilovars represent power that is "reflected" back from a device.

Which kind of power you draw from the electrical company depends on what kind of circuits are running in your home. The total power (called Apparent Power) that your electric company generates is measured in kilovolt-ampere (kVA). According to Energy Star, all residential electric bills in the United States charge per kilowatt, so in order to reduce your electric bill, KVAR units would need to reduce the number of kilowatts drawn from the utility company.

What do KVAR Units do?

Electrical devices in your home can be sorted into two categories:

1. Items like toasters and incandescent light bulbs are able to use all available electricity as soon as it enters the circuit. Items like these are called linear loads.
2. Items like electric motors (appliances, air conditioning) and fluorescent lights have to store or modify electricity before it can be used. Motors and fluorescent lights are reactive loads.

For the purpose of explaining the the differences between these loads, and how they pertain to a KVAR unit, we're going to use an analogy: If you have an advanced grasp on how electricity works, you may want to skip to the next heading.

If you have a waterslide set up in your back yard, you're likely to screw a hose onto a water spigot, and run water down the slide. The constant stream of water, which is used as fast as the utility provides it, is like a linear load.

If you didn't have a hose, you might use a bucket to keep the waterslide wet. You'd stand at the spigot and wait for the bucket to fill, and pour water down the slide as people are ready to use it. Storing water up, and then using the bulk of it when you have enough, is like a reactive load.

The problem with the water (kWs of electricity) in the bucket (apparent power) is that you can't really fill it to the brim; you have to leave it partially unfilled so that the water has room to slosh around as you're moving it to the waterslide (reactive load). This means that you're going to have to use a bucket that's bigger than the amount of water you actually need to make up for how much "empty bucket" (kVar) you need to have.

If you had a lid for your bucket (Power Factor Corrector, like the KVAR unit), you could fill the bucket to the brim, fasten on the lid, and move the same amount of water using a smaller bucket. This means that you'd be able to use a smaller bucket (apparent power) — and no "empty bucket" (kVar) — to get the same amount of water (kWs of electricity) to your waterslide (reactive load). The problem is, you only pay for the water (kWs of electricity) — the utility company gives you the "empty bucket" (kVar) for free because they know you don't want it, it's just part of using the big bucket they gave you so that you'd be able to buy their water and use it on your waterslide.

One reason the utility company doesn't give you a lidded bucket in the first place is because adding a lid is more expensive than just giving you a bigger bucket and letting you have "empty bucket" free of charge. Another reason that they don't give you a bucket with a lid is because you need their water to do a lot of things, not just wet a waterslide. This means that they'd have to supply a different-sized lid & bucket combination for each activity in your back yard, making the big bucket option even more economical for them.

Now, if you chose to buy a bucket lid with your own money, the utility company will save money by buying a smaller bucket and providing you with little to no free "empty bucket." This won't save you any money, because you only pay for the water in the first place.

A More Scientific Explanation of what a KVAR Unit Does

Voltage and amperage, the two parts of electric current, alternate between negative and positive polarities. Normally, they are in phase with each other, meaning that they switch polarities at the exact same moment. This means that they would always be both positive (++) or both negative (--). The issue with reactive loads is that their interruptive nature can create a back-up in the "clean" flow of energy that your electric company sends you. This causes the voltage and amperage of your electrical current to become slightly out of phase with each other. This means that the polarities of voltage and amperage will now change at different times, and there will be a brief period each cycle where their polarities are opposed (+-). The power created when this condition exists is called reactive power (kVar) and cannot be used to do work. This interference causes the electric company to have to send you more apparent power(kVA) to supply the same amount of useable power(kW) because some of the energy is being lost as reactive power(kVar).

The diagram above displays the difference between a linear load — with a power factor of 1 — and a reactive load. Because the voltage of a reactive load is slightly pushed out of phase, there is a portion of each cycle where the voltage will be positive, while the current (amps) is negative, and vice-versa. During these portions of the cycle, the electricity actually flows backwards as non-useable kilovars(kVa).

Power Factor Correction Devices, like the KVAR unit, use capacitors to correct the electrical waveform, and push them back in sync with each other. This eliminates the kVar and "cleans" the electricity between the capacitors and the device that's drawing the current, allowing you to pull less kVA from your electric company, but does not affect the amount of kW entering your home.

Are KVAR Units Green?

Since KVAR units don't decrease the number of kWH entering your home, they don't decrease your billable energy consumption. They do decrease your apparent power consumption (kVar), which means that the electricity company has to generate less apparent power (kVA) to provide you with the same amount of useable real power (kW). By this logic, installing a KVAR unit is eco-friendly, as it would reduce your non-billable energy consumption, and the utility company's costs and carbon emissions associated with it. Also, reducing the amount of reactive power (and thus apparent power) in your home will reduce the amount of heat generated by your electrical system, prolonging the life of any appliances you have that do not come with Power Factor Correction Devices built in. This also reduces electromagnetic radiation in your home.

According to some KVAR skeptics, in order to be the most effective, the unit must be installed very close to the device that is creating the disturbance. Since this is not the case with virtually all residential installations, "backwards" flowing reactive energy suffers efficiency loss as it travels back to the capacitor. Also, the capacitor must be removed from the circuit when reactive energy is not present, or it will re-introduce reactive energy into your home's otherwise clean power system.

It may possible, despite the statements by the Department of Energy's Energy Star program, that the production of kVar does secretly factor into residential energy bills, which may be the cause of the positive customer testimonials. Skeptics who have tested the KVAR units for energy savings found that it had no effect on the speed of the meter.