Smart Elevators and Renewable Energy
February 7, 2017
The obsession with smart elements is not going to witness a downward incline any soon. On contrary it has been growing with the technical developments in pertinent segments. From smart electronic devices to smart machines, the basic benefit of these is availed in terms of optimized power consumption by each one of them. Automated and regularly monitored power controls for a system has a typical effect on the regulation of net electricity consumption. The prospects of using a smart elevator design to adapt its functioning in accordance with the availability of renewable energy is promising now. Market for smart elevators A recently published market intelligence indicates that the smart elevators market would garner revenue worth $23.16 billion by the end of 2020. Throughout the same report, analysts make estimations to project an indicative CAGR of 13.8% for the industry over the forecast period 2014–2020. With regard to the current growth scenario, it is evident that smart elevators would be an integral part of most infrastructural establishments around the world. The daily average electricity consumption of a single smart elevator within a premise accounts for a considerable share of the total on-site power consumption. The growth trends put several energy aspects into perspective for the industry. Emerging renewable power-ups The primary aspect is the power source for the built environment itself. When the world is moving with a focus to derive its energy requirements from renewable sources. Both public and private construction ventures are looking for renewable energy alternatives that can place their constructed establishment in the list of green buildings. Additional motivation is received in the form of federal incentives and brownie points that are awarded to the construction group for successful integration of renewable energy sources. Elevator manufacturers are therefore improving their products and solutions to adapt to this ongoing change in the construction industry. Identification of industry focus When talking about the smart elevators, the sole focus of the conversation is on the installations that are responsive to the excellent building energy management arrangements. The extent to which the automatic arrangements can be adjusted depends upon whether the deployment is in a residential, commercial, or industrial settings. Leading manufacturers in this segment have expanded their previous smart elevator portfolio to employ specific features that can seamlessly operate when connected to an external source powered by a renewable energy medium. They also maintain additional functional scope to deal with the erratic grid supply from renewable energy plants. The most salient example in this reference that occurs instantaneously is the launch of the solar-powered elevator by Schindler. The company made a strategic sweep through the industry channels with its end-to-end solar elevator solution for its different types of consumers. A standard package for installation would include photovoltaic panels, a hybrid power manager (HPM), an energy storage device (ESD), a single-phase building connection, and the main Schindler 3300 elevator unit. The power backup ensures that under no circumstances it the lift left without any power support, yet at the time of availability, it sticks to the solar energy tapped and stored in the batteries. The smart elevators market growth is motivated because of the extensive usage of renewable energy options in infrastructure development activities. The future global energy scenario would be incomplete without the appropriate progress made by the smart elevators industry.