On-Demand Escalators
January 13, 2011
It’s been awhile since I posted anything environment-related, so I thought I’d take a moment and get my Andy Rooney on and lament: Isn’t there a more energy-preserving approach to escalators?
These things are on in a continuous fashion, likely burning up a fair bit of power in the process. There are probably hundreds of thousands (no - millions!) that see prolonged stretches of inactive use everyday.
So why not make these escalators operate in an on-demand fashion, like their Elevator cousins? This could be a push-button mechanism, or maybe some scales on every step which can detect when there is someone standing on them, or a sensor like those that open automatic doors. Something that enables operation only when needed.
I’m sure people can adapt to this functionality. That brief awkward moment when the escalator goes from idle to moving would be no more troubling than ‘timing’ our step to climb on as we do now.
I’d like to include an option for people who prefer to climb escalators to leave them powered-off. Those health nuts.
Perhaps there wouldn’t be any energy-savings to this idea. Maybe the energy used to power-up the escalator from idle would be too much, possibly surpassing current energy consumption if it had to stop and start hundreds of times per day. There has to be some kind of rational explanation as to why these are left on in a continuous cycle - if anyone can enlighten me to this I’d appreciate it!
Entry filed under: Environment. Tags: Energy, Entertainment, Environment, Technology.
1.
Christian | January 13, 2011 at 4:33 pm
The rational explanation?
It’s easy to leave em on all day.
I have no doubt that they’d conserve a lot of electricity when turned off in their times of inactivity. It would simply be a matter of adapting escalators to turn off and on on-demand. So basically, escalator creators just need to be able to find a way to easily adapt a simple motion sensor on the pre-built escalator without compromising its integrity.
On a side note, if people see escalators that aren’t moving, maybe they’ll decide to take the stairs instead and actually get exercise o_O
2.
originaldave77 | January 13, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Haha yes it is easier it seems. There is a bank across the street from where I work that leaves them on all night when they are CLOSED! I’m about to remedy that.
There might be some confusion at first with the escalator appearing out of order, but if these become widespread, and perhaps there is some signage or a way to telegraph that these are automatic, then people should adopt and adapt.
3.
john | January 17, 2011 at 12:47 pm
The problem i can see is that the escalators may take a while to start, and by the time they’re going, the person could already be off them, the only way to remedy this would be to put faster starting motors, but that could be dangerous and consume a lot of power.
4.
originaldave77 | January 17, 2011 at 5:54 pm
That does make sense. All those steps look heavy, so the operation may be comparable to a train - slow to get going, but once the momentum is there, it’s very efficient.
It may take a drastic redesign to allow for frequent stops and starts. If a huge system like an elevator can be so on-demand, then possibly escalators could be too.
Admittedly pie-in-the-sky, but I hope there can be energy savings to be had one day.