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An On the wire story
Britain’s ageing lift stock could be hiding a surprisingly large energy bill. New analysis from KONE Corporation suggests that modernising older lifts across the UK could save enough electricity each year to power about 128,800 homes, roughly the size of Brighton and Hove or Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Finnish lift and escalator group says the opportunity is being missed because lifts are often treated as invisible infrastructure, even though industry estimates put their share of a building’s energy use at between 2% and 5%, and as much as 10% in older systems. That matters at a time when buildings account for around 40% of global carbon emissions, according to KONE’s framing of the issue.
The company says the scale of the challenge in Britain is significant. Citing European Lift Association estimates, it says more than half of lifts in many European countries are at least 25 years old, while the UK’s stock stands at about 330,398 lifts, with roughly 165,200 thought to be beyond that 25-year mark. On KONE’s modelling, modernising those ageing systems could cut electricity use by as much as 465 GWh a year.
Kati Oulasvirta, director of modernisation at KONE Great Britain, Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, said lifts are too often ignored until they fail. She argued that updating existing equipment can lower energy consumption, extend asset life and reduce waste, helping buildings become more efficient and sustainable.
KONE says modernisation does not always mean a full replacement. In many cases, it argues, targeted upgrades are enough, particularly from around the 15-year point, when breakdowns become more likely and components can become outdated or unavailable.
The company says its projects can retain up to 88% of materials, cut energy use by as much as 70% and reduce embodied carbon by up to 78% compared with complete replacement. Its wider modernisation services include energy-efficient upgrades such as LED lighting and regenerative drive technology, which recovers braking energy and feeds it back into the building’s power system.
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Inspired by headline at: FMJ [1]
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