The book “Lifts, energy, environment”, my latest effort, addresses the implications of lifts and lifting platforms construction concerning energy and environment. This contemporary topic is both new and important for the lift sector, which must address environmental issues and evaluate the sustainability of lift installations throughout the life cycle. This is unprecedented in the Italian lift sector literature, which is why I want to express my gratitude to ANACAM for having the foresight to publish it.

 

The first part is dedicated to the energy issue; it first sets a general discussion, based on the principles of physics, and then moves on to the normative level. In fact, there are rules that are not very well known, regulating the procedures for measuring and estimating the energy needs of lifts and lifting platforms (the issue of escalators is not covered). The European Directives that may involve lifts are also contextualised, and some information is provided on the relatively new topic of environmental product declarations.

 

This last topic introduces the rather pioneering effort to study in detail the environmental impact of lifts, beyond their energy consumption. Before addressing this issue, the text introduces waste management, which I believe is paramount for lift operators in the immediate future. The types of materials used for this work are explained and listed, starting from packaging, but trying to cover all aspects, in particular waste from electrical and electronic equipment and chemical agents such as lubricants and oils. One chapter is dedicated to examining the impact of material transport. The final part is an examination of all the components of the lift and their composition in terms of raw materials such as iron, copper and so on, briefly illustrating the problems of production and treatment as waste. The end of the book includes conclusions, which I defined as “provisional” being aware that this text can only be considered the first step of the analysis of a topic which, in the context of the energy and environmental transition involving all of society and the economy, therefore also profoundly affecting the world of lifts.