TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Going Up? Escalator, Elevator Motors Get Green-Friendly Fine-Tuning

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 03-02-10 | Comments

The biggest waste of energy isn�t really the motors in automobiles -- it�s the motors in many machines we use every day. Find out how one tech company is changing this equation.

When you�re heading down the escalators at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, you�re riding in style. The property is among the glitziest in Sin City, and, most likely, that escalator ride is packed with an international line-up of high-rollers ready to lay down literally thousands of dollars in a night.

Unfortunately for the Bellagio and its legendary owner, Steve Wynn, the property itself was leaving thousands of dollars on the table, with respect to wasted escalator-related energy costs. Here�s why: It takes the same amount of juice to run an escalator whether it�s carrying two people or twenty. And with an estimated 400,000 escalators in operation worldwide, the power bill to run these machines amounts to $260 million a year, according to published estimates.

The waste extends beyond escalators to other machines -- like elevators and conveyor belts -- creating what may be one of the greatest contributors to the carbon-footprint puzzle. That�s right: With all the focus on solar power, electric cars, wind-generation farms, and other efforts to cut on power consumption, very little attention is paid to equipment dependent upon motors that run at maximum capacity when minimum is needed.

Until now.

A company called Power Efficiency worked with the folks at Bellagio as well as the resort�s next-door neighbor, Caesar's Palace (owned by Harrah�s Entertainment), to sharply reduce the amount of energy consumed by these escalators. Power Efficiency came up with what it calls "motor-efficiency controllers," which essentially allow for a "smart" motor that increases and decreases loads based upon real-time demand among the users of escalators, elevators, crushers, shredders, conveyors and other equipment products that depend upon them.

Dubbed the "E-Save Technology" solution line, the controllers use a microprocessor and circuitry to sense the energy requirements of a motor -- controlling the amount of power delivered to the motor based upon the load requirements -- while maintaining constant motor speed. This eliminates "full-load" runs when full loads aren�t on board.

A test run at Caesar's Palace demonstrated an energy reduction of more than 35 percent, which would save more than $1,500 per year for each escalator using the controllers. The Bellagio reported similar results. Other customers using the technology include Macy�s, Mitsubishi, Borders, Boston Logan International Airport, the Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority, the Smithsonian and Yankee Stadium.

�Energy efficiency is the �low-hanging fruit� of energy solutions,� says Steven Strasser, chairman and CEO of Power Efficiency. �In developing this line of products, we recognize a simple fact: It�s much less expensive, destructive, and time-intensive to reduce energy demand through efficiency than to increase energy supply through new power plants and transmission lines.�