Elevators are great things for when you don't want to climb those stairs, but what is the actual cost of them? Its no secret that escalators use energy. The energy that it takes to move you up one story is not too much, but most escalators run all day every day! We wanted to find out how much energy is 'wasted' when no one is using the escalator. Once we found this, we decided to see if it would be worth the cost to install a more efficient escalator system.

We decided to compile a set of data that would tell us how often a certain elevator was used, how long it was kept in operation, what its motor is, and how it compares to other motors. We used this data and escalator specifications to calculate net energy use over an annual period. Using our observed data, we then calculated an average figure for disuse. This figure and the previously specified escalator specifications were used to calculate the energy used by the escalator during zero-occupancy, and would give us our calculations for energy misappropriation.