Lift Report

Until just a few years ago questions of energy efficiency attracted hardly any attention in elevator engineering. Instead , safety, comfort and the footprint were in the limelight. In the meantime, however, energy use is being taken into consideration to an ever increasing extent.

Energy Efficiency is one of the main environmental topics for the future even in the lift business. Bucher Hydraulics has been aware of this trend for decades and is therefore the leading company for manufacturing and further development of energy efficient hydraulic drives. This article gives a broader view of complete lift facilities and shows that in 80 % of all cases an optimization in standby consumption results in the best solution.

This paper describes a methodological procedure for environmental impact evaluation of elevators during their service life. The method is based on energy consumption measurements and traffic calculations and is presented as an evaluation tool to be applied in life cycle assessments (LCA). The energy consumed by these systems in their use phase has been identified as a key issue, with a significant influence on the complete life cycle environmental load. The method can be used to compare different technologies (type of elevator, drive system, components which affect the energy consumption, etc.) as well as the influence of the installation condition for a fixed traffic pattern. In this sense, the procedure described can be considered also as an energy efficiency evaluation method. As a particular case, the influence that a wrong counterweighting of the elevator can have in the elevator environmental impact has been assessed.

Following meetings in 1990 (Beijing) and 2001 (Shanghai), a general meeting of ISO/TC 178 “Lifts, escalators and moving walks” was held once again in China. On April 22 and 23, 2010, representatives of standardization institutions in the twenty-five countries participating in this committee convened in Beijing. The volcanic ash plume, however, made it impossible for most European representatives to attend. The DIN organization was represented at this meeting by Günter Horny (VDMA/NAM), who started his air travel just in the nick of time.

The European Lift Association held their 2010 conference at the Palace Hotel, in the centre of what was formally West Berlin. The topic was on “How to improve the energy efficiency of lifts, escalators and moving walks”. Over 100 delegates registered for the seminars and they along with invited guests from the EU Commission, National lift Associations , Notified Bodies and the Press enjoyed a number of informative and stimulating presentations. The presentations at the seminar explored energy saving from the point of view of the lift industry, architecture and the client . Credit should be given to the ELA for ensuring this ‘all inclusive’ selection of papers was part of the conference programme.

One of the world’s most important “Lift Industry Fair” Asansör Istanbul – 12th International Lift Exhibition will be held on 14 – 17 April 2011 in Istanbul. Asansör will once again be the ultimate meeting point for industry professionals from all around the world.