Going Up? Otis Escalators and Elevators Are an Environmentally Friendly Solution

Upward mobility doesn’t take much energy anymore—either the athletic or the electric kind. Those of us without a lot of get-up-and-go have always favored escalators and elevators. Now that these stair substitutes are being adapted to save power and operate more efficiently, at least we can claim an uplifting rationale for our lethargy—if not an uplifted posterior.

Farmington, Connecticut-based Otis Elevator Company, a unit of United Technologies Corp., has enhanced its NCE escalator—making it the first to offer a standard, all-in-one package of “green” features. The energy-efficient NCE escalator from Otis offers customers substantial environmental benefits, including:

• A ReGen drive that captures energy generated by the escalator on the way down and delivers it back to the building for use by other systems, reducing energy consumption by up to 45 percent compared to traditional escalators.
• Power standby technology, which uses sensors that detect when passengers are not on the escalator, prompting the escalator to slow down and use less energy.
• LED lighting that uses 30 percent less power than conventional lighting
• High-efficiency lubrication that uses 98 percent less oil than a traditional lubrication system.

“Introducing the energy-efficient NCE escalator at Greenbuild 2011 International [in Toronto earlier this month has been] an exciting milestone for Otis and an important step for The Way To Green program,” said Didier Michaud-Daniel, president of Otis Elevator Company, adding, “[We are] committed to continuously improving and expanding our environmental program and to providing the best green solutions for our clients.”

The Way To Green initiative, launched in 2006, is a global environmental program that spans every aspect of Otis’ operations, from design to manufacturing, to end-of-life product recycling. As part of that initiative, in 2007, Otis opened the world's first green elevator manufacturing facility. Located in the heart of China's Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), the Otis TEDA Elevator Center incorporates the most advanced energy-saving technologies to reduce site energy use by at least 25 percent. The facility produces environmentally friendly elevator systems, including Gen2 elevators.

Otis' Gen2 elevator system reduces energy usage by up to 50 percent, compared to conventional systems. The Gen2 system does not require any additional polluting lubrication, eliminating the need for storage, cleanup and disposal of hazardous waste.

What’s more, the Gen2 system becomes even more energy efficient when combined with ReGen drives. As the product of choice for green building initiatives, ReGen drives reduce overall elevator energy usage by up to 75 percent compared to systems with non-regenerative drives. ReGen drives feed energy usually lost during braking back into the building's internal electrical grid, where it can be used by other loads or users connected to the same network. They reduce overall building operating costs, delivering significant annual savings to building owners and tenants, year after year, during the life of the elevator.

In fact, Otis retrofitted the 38 elevators in New York City’s Empire State Building, as part of the structure’s widely publicized renovations, which received LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council this year. 

The company also announced at the Greenbuild 2011 conference that it has signed several new business agreements, based on its environmental focus. The most substantial of the new contracts involves supplying and installing 700 energy-efficient elevators for an immense social housing reconstruction project in Jiangsu, China. Under the contract, Otis will install permanent-magnet gearless elevators, which require less space in a building and feature the company’s energy-efficient ReGen drive technology. When completed over the next two years, the project will provide elevator service to 16,000 units of housing.

Otis Elevator Company’s other recent contracts to supply and install energy-efficient elevators include:

• The Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea—For the world’s second tallest building, which is set to be completed in 2015, Otis will supply and install 46 elevators and escalators, including 16 energy-saving Gen2 elevators.
• The Vodafone D2 GmbH corporate headquarters in Dusseldorf, Germany—Otis will supply and install 39 elevators, including 29 Gen2 elevators featuring ReGen drives.
• Medical technology centers in Kaliningrad, Smolensk, Barnaul, and Novosibirsk, Russia—Otis will supply and install a total of 28 elevators, 25 of which will be energy-efficient Gen2 elevators.

Finally, Otis has announced plans to build another energy efficient manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil; as well as the expansion of its factory in Bangalore, India, which is being built to LEED Gold standards; and  the opening of new manufacturing center in Florence, South Carolina, set to begin operations during 2012. The new South Carolina facility will consolidate much of Otis’ North American new equipment operations and will bring more than 360 jobs to the state.