Achieving ‘net zero’ for the lift industry – is it possible?
By Massimo Beccarini
Global commitments and actions to avert the worst effects of climate change are growing, but they still fall far short of the target to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The European Commission has stated that the European building sector is the largest single energy consumer in the EU, responsible for approximately 40 percent of energy consumption and 36 percent of CO2 emissions in the EU. It is estimated that lifts consume between two and five percent of the energy consumption of buildings. The lift industry can therefore contribute towards decarbonizing the built environment by providing energy efficient solutions, and reducing the carbon emitted during the production of materials.
Net zero and the impact of the building sector
Net zero is another term for carbon neutrality; i.e. when the balance between the total amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere is equal. The EC has set a long-term goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050[1], in line with global commitments to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep the goal of 1.5 degrees within reach[2].
The EC has set various initiatives and schemes in place to help achieve this difficult task. These include the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)[3], the European Green Deal[4] and the new Social Climate Fund[5].
The building sector is the largest single energy consumer in Europe[6]. Around 75 percent of current building stock in the EU is deemed energy inefficient, meaning that a large proportion of the energy used goes to waste. Smart solutions and energy efficient materials are needed not only for new buildings, but also for the renovation of existing buildings, which could reduce the EU’s total energy consumption by five to six percent and lower carbon dioxide emissions by about five percent. Yet, on average, less than one percent of the national building stock is renovated each year. In order to meet the EU climate and energy objectives, the current rates of renovations should at least double.
Decarbonizing these buildings in time to reach the 2050 target remains an enormous challenge, especially considering that of the buildings expected to still exist 30 years from now, an estimated 97 percent will need to be renovated to make them carbon neutral.
Renovation is key for reducing the energy consumption of buildings, for bringing down emissions and for reducing energy bills. In addition, renovation generates local jobs and economic growth, making the EU more resilient after the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
How lifts can contribute towards net zero
Older lifts can consume as much as 10 percent of a building’s energy, although this varies depending on the technology with which they operate, the number of lifts in the building, the number of floors they serve and the frequency with which they are used.
New lifts are comparatively low consumers of energy thanks to new advances in technology. But it is also possible to go a step further to achieve net zero lifts. Some of the methods of doing this are to use solar panels on the roof of the lift shaft, cables that reduce energy waste, regenerative lift drives that recapture energy when the lift is in motion, energy efficient lighting and sensors that activate lights and fans only when the lift is occupied. Relay switches can also be swapped for more energy efficient microprocessors within the control panel.
In addition to this, lift manufacturers should also work to raise awareness among customers about the benefits of energy efficient technologies, implement a strategy for attractive modernization upgrade plans, and continually work to improve sustainability and reduce their material usage and carbon footprint in operational and manufacturing processes.
The role of lift associations
As the voice of the European lift industry, ELA is working to create awareness on the role of lifts in relation to climate change. In order to effect real change, a functioning market must exist for energy‐efficient lifts and green products. Currently, market demand is limited for various reasons, mainly due to low awareness among building stakeholders on the role of the lift industry and its improvement potential to reduce energy costs needed to operate buildings. ELA’s Energy and Environment Committee is actively involved in educating construction and building industry stakeholders on how new innovations in lift technologies can bring benefits to the overall energy efficiency performance of buildings.
To move the market towards energy efficient lifts, ELA is also working to help policy makers establish an appropriate framework to support the ecological transition of the lift industry. ELA is currently lobbying the EC for the inclusion of lifts, escalators and moving walks within the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in order to make a measurable contribution towards the EU’s ambitious goals. As part of its Eco Strategy, ELA intends to support EU objectives for energy efficient technologies and sustainable materials, ensure that lifts contribute to smart building rating systems, and help create favorable conditions for modernizing existing lift stocks.
Taking action towards real progress
As the lift industry starts setting commitments and roadmaps towards net zero products and operations, this will too encourage suppliers and other players along the value chain to shift towards more sustainable solutions and practices. Action must therefore be taken urgently to reduce the energy that is needed to operate more than six million of existing lifts installed in the EU as well as all the new lifts that will be installed every year.
National associations, lift manufacturers, SMEs and component manufacturers are all urged to make commitments to reduce carbon emissions and help meet the overall European target of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. ELA members can also contribute their expertise at the highest levels towards the efforts to build a net zero industry.
Visit the ELA website for more information about the work of the Energy and Environment Committee: https://ela-aisbl.eu
References
[1] European Commission, “2050 long-term strategy”: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/climate-strategies-targets/2050-long-term-strategy_en
[2] UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021, “COP26 goals”: https://ukcop26.org/cop26-goals/
[3] European Commission, “Recovery and Resilience Facility”: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility_enm
[4] European Commission, “A European Green Deal”: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
[5] European Commission, “Social Climate Fund”: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/european-green-deal/delivering-european-green-deal/social-climate-fund_en
[6] European Commission, “In Focus: Energy Efficiency in Buildings”: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/focus-energy-efficiency-buildings-2020-lut-17_en#:
Achieving ‘net zero’ for the lift industry – is it possible?
The final report of the Ecodesign Preparatory Study for Lifts was published and is awaiting decision-making by the European Commission.
Although technically possible, the study holder’s policy recommendation points out that there are several difficulties implementing an ecodesign regulation for lifts and identifies potential that the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) might be more appropriate to promote the energy performance of lifts.
Accordingly, the study team proposes a possible set of recommendations that are in line with ELA’s position on ecodesign regulations:
- Encourage member states to define energy efficiency targets for lifts in national transposition of the EPBD (e.g. Denmark, Portugal).
- Include lifts in the list of technical building systems of the next EPBD revision, which is deemed to be a more appropriate framework to regulate lifts.
- Mandate declaration of energy efficiency figures based on EN ISO 25745-2 (Energy performance of lifts, escalators and moving walks — Part 2: Energy calculation and classification for lifts (elevators)) under Article 11 of the ecodesign directive.
- Include energy consumption of lifts in Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s) of buildings.
- Encourage ISO/TC 178 WG 10 (ISO technical committee for lifts, escalators and moving walks, working group energy efficiency) to rescale energy efficiency classification.
However, as the decision from the European Commission has not been taken yet, we must wait for its final stance to further assess the topic. As further step, the ELA Secretary General will touch base with the European Commission to comprehend the decision-making process and to clarify the complexities that such regulation may bring along.
Meanwhile the ELA Board accepted the proposal of initiating a collection for ecological data. The aim of this approach is to anticipate the law-making process if applicable and to support further discussions with the EU Commission to achieve appropriate decision-making when needed. The data collection is focusing mostly on data about annual standby and travel energy consumption as per EN ISO 25745-2 standard and application of design options listed in the study. The Statistical Committee will likely assist with the collection process.
Ecodesign Preparatory Study for Lifts – Final Report
By Kari Suihkonen, Chair of the Digitalization and Cybersecurity Committee at the European Lift Association
The buildings of the future are likely to be much more intelligent than they are now. Advances in technology are allowing systems and equipment within a building to communicate with each other, send real time status updates to the cloud and make user convenience, safety and comfort the top priority. Sensors, connected systems and big data analytics are driving transformation for all types of technology, and the lift industry must adapt to the IoT trend to become included in the now vast ecosystem of connected “things” that communicate with each other to unlock enhanced functionality.
Currently, digitalization presents a major challenge to the industry. Although lift manufacturers and service providers are beginning to innovate in this space to enable cloud-based predictive maintenance and touchless lift access, the main obstacle in unlocking all the possibilities of digital technology lies in the lack of interoperability between systems.
Rising demand for BIM
In the construction industry, a new trend for digitalization is taking hold. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the digital process of creating and managing information for a building. The digital BIM model on a cloud-based platform integrates structured data to produce a “digital twin” representation of an asset across its lifecycle, from planning and design to construction and operations.
In several countries throughout the world, BIM is mandatory for all large or public building projects. Even in countries where it is not yet mandatory, adoption rates have steadily increased, as the benefits of BIM mean that building owners are increasingly demanding contractors that can deliver it. Because of this general trend in the construction industry, lift and component manufacturers are now finding themselves under pressure to include sensors and data analytics with their product and service offerings.
Tackling downtime and conserving energy
For manufacturers and service providers, digitalization is the clear innovation path for new products and services. The biggest benefit of digitalization is expected to be apparent in the service section, where the auditable trail of data that can be easily stored and searched will provide a great opportunity for transparency of maintenance in order to improve safety and operation of the lifts being maintained. Digitalization also encompasses predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The interface challenge
The problem, however, comes in when these individual pieces of “smart” technology connected to the lift need to communicate with other connected things as part of the building’s wider building management system (BMS) infrastructure. Smart lifts require interoperability where their interfaces with other systems in the building, such as fire alarm systems and access control systems, and a data stream connection is also required for the company that carries out maintenance on the equipment.
The European Lift Association’s Digitalization Committee defines interfaces as follows: “An interface is a shared boundary between two or more objects with the intention to communicate and exchange information. Interfaces can be physical (hardware) or non-physical (software) in nature. They are an enabling tool for digitization, but also are an opening point for additional threats that haven’t been there before.”
Interfaces in the lift environment have been in existence for a long time, but typically they have been complicated, proprietary and expensive. Now, with the advent of the IoT era, these interfaces are becoming cheaper and more widely used as demand increases.
Next to platforms and devices, interfaces are an integral part of and subject to the process of digitalization. External objects or building management systems which connect to the elevator via an interface can affect the operability of the installation.
Making progress through open standards
European Lift Association (ELA) is committed to driving the vision of digitalization in the industry forward by promoting standard interfaces and interoperability. The aim is to achieve optimum safety and continuity with maximum functionality.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), in cooperation with ELA, has developed a smart lift IoT system standard coupled to the oneM2M platform, but the drawback is that this particular platform is currently not commonly compatible with popular BMS interfaces, and it does not yet address the variety of lift functionality. To overcome these drawbacks, telecom experts must become more aware of the requirements of the lift and escalator world, in the same way that the lift experts must become more aware of modern telecom and interoperability methodologies.
European lift and escalator standards are plentiful, but most of these are centred around safety and usability. The lift industry is severely lacking in open interface standards, as most technologies are currently based on proprietary systems.
ELA is contributing to an ISO working group to standardise lift interfaces. For this, ELA is favouring close collaboration with standardization bodies that bring the communication expertise to the lift and escalator industry. Initial collaboration with ETSI has shown this approach to be very promising. If this is achieved, the adoption of digitalization within the industry is expected to accelerate in the next decade.
Although the path ahead to open interface standards will be challenging, the long-term benefits to the industry from the move to digitalization are expected to be far-reaching: improvements in data analytics, energy efficiency, predictive maintenance and overall performance will result in a massive uptick in innovation, improved safety and reduction in the downtime of lifts and escalators.