WP6-Brochure-E4 brochure - ELA European Lift Association.

Raising awareness
Setting a standard for measuring energy consumption, calculation of the energy demand and
complementary legislation would already contribute to raise awareness about energy
efficiency to some extent. However, higher levels of awareness are necessary – especially on
the customer’s side – to guarantee that energy efficiency of lifts is optimised. Although
developing a communication strategy for an awareness campaign is beyond the scope of this
report, some advice will be given regarding target groups and options to be considered.
Main target groups for awareness‐raising measures are the stakeholders involved in the
planning and construction of buildings, i.e. those who decide if new equipment is installed, as
well as those who later use or operate an installation, i.e. those paying for energy consumption
and deciding on retrofits. As it was already discussed above, this includes several groups of
stakeholders.
One way of raising awareness in several target groups is labelling equipment in a comparable
and comprehensive way, as has been done for other electrical equipment, e.g. freezers and
refrigerators. However, given the high number of types of lifts, the development of a
comprehensive labelling system may take some time. VDI 4707 provides a labelling example. In
the meantime, other measures to raise awareness should be put in practice. This is also
important as labelling addresses only new equipment and does not include existing
installations. However, due to the long life‐time of lifts, it is necessary that measures for
market transformation address existing installations as well.
The first steps to raise awareness are already part of the E4 project, e.g. developing
dissemination material providing information for different kinds of target groups and
organising workshops with information on this topic. These activities need to be extended
after the end of the project, e.g. by national energy agencies or notified bodies. Main target
groups should be architects and construction engineers, construction companies that act as
general contractors, as well as building operators, and administrators. While the first two
groups are more important in the process of installing new equipment, the last one is relevant
in case of retrofits and modernisation. However, in order to advise all these groups on energyefficient
equipment, easily accessible and comprehensive information material is required – a
topic that will be further discussed in the next section.
Enhancing knowledge
One of the general experiences of lift experts is that most customers have little knowledge of
lifts. Furthermore, specialised consultants are only involved in a minority of projects. Thus,
raising awareness is not enough to enhance energy efficiency: even if decision‐makers were
aware of energy efficiency, they would not know how to achieve this goal. Here again,
standardised measurement turns out to be the key to energy efficiency. Without comparable
data for different models and types of lifts, customers are not in a position to make an
informed decision.
101