The Insanity of Escalators
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 08.26.08
One of the world's shortest escalators
Jeffrey Hill writes in Next American City about escalators. “You know, it’s just stupid,” says mechanical engineer Matt Dermond. “If you have a place like a mall, you could install an elevator for the elderly and the disabled and tell everyone else to take a walk. It’s not the kind of machine that you can make practical. Because it’s not.”
There is definitely a place for escalators; many subway systems couldn't work well without them. But like the ones shown in our survey, many are superfluous and silly energy hogs- "The national energy use of escalators is estimated at 2.6 billion kilowatt hours per year, equivalent to powering 375,000 houses; its cost is roughly $260 million."
Copenhagen escalators
And unlike other forms of transportation, people are almost irrelevant; they run almost all the time. They are also very complex, high maintenance devices, each tread a little cart running on rails, always exposed to dirt and road salt and crunched childrens' toes that gum up the works.
“The passengers make little impact on how much energy these escalators use,” says [physics student Eric] Leitner, crunching the numbers. “It’s all running the machinery, and cooling it, too. Unless thousands of people are riding these things at once, the big, bulky aluminum steps aren’t necessary.”
Crazy expensive Hitachi spiral escalators run six floors in San Francisco Flickr mbjones
Hill writes that the Energy Efficiency Act calls for the installation of intermittent escalators in the Capitol Building, to set an example for the rest of the nation. Dermond observes, however, that unless the escalators remain dormant for long periods of time, starting up over and over again would waste more energy. “And if you did have a system that doesn’t get used that often, what is the point of having it in the first place?” ::Next American City
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Aren't escalators meant to be walked on in order to reach another floor even faster? Everywhere I go people walk onto escalators and just stop, slowly crawling upwards or downwards when stairs would actually be faster.
I have always wondered how much energy an elevator uses vs. a human uses. I live in an apartment building with a typical small Otis elevator, and am amazed to see my neighbours use it instead of walking one or two flights. Think your physicist could figure out some realistic numbers for elevators (including efficiency losses) versus human energy use?
I understand why escalators are, in many cases, unnecessary and wasteful, but in some cases I think they are acceptable. The picture of "one of the world's shortest escalators" shows a Japanese escalator, most likely in a train/subway station. While it may seem ridiculous, remember that the Japanese population is aging rapidly. Especially in subways, where elevator retrofit construction can take years, escalators seem much more practical and efficient. Moreover, they do not run all the time, at least in Japan, they are operated by sensors and do not move until someone walks on.
...and don't forget those automatically opening electric doors, which are only necessary, perhaps, when you are leaving the store (with packages/bags). Totally not necessary when you are walking in. Sure, some stores have manual doors too, but when you try to use them, the sensor triggers the electric door anyway! Are Americans so lazy that they cannot open a door, or even push a button?
I remember seeing an escalator once that only turned on when someone walk onto it via motion sensors. I thought it was a pretty good idea to save energy. Escalators are pretty silly. They were pretty nice to have when I was travelling recently and lugging my luggage around, but in places where there weren't escalators and I had to carry my stuff it wasn't a big deal.
The shortest escalator in the world is the funniest thing I've seen in ages, it's absolutely insane!
The shortest escalator is quite sad in a humorous way.
In any case, I definitley think installing motion sensors would be good....besides just building one or two just for the elderly and disabled.
What about elevators?
You know, I swore off escalators a long time ago. They just seem so silly to me. I'm glad that others have noticed their ridiculousness.
But how the hell am I going to get from the food court level to the Gap level after eating 7000 calories of Orient Wok buffet and Pretzel King cinnamon pretzels???
Although in places like malls they are pointless, they are crucial to subway stations.
Heyyyyy... I said almost the same thing as this Hill guy, about the NYC MYA sleep escalator story, a couple weeks ago.
I have been on that short one in the top photo. I'm sure it is the one at Yoyogi station in Tokyo - and is SERIOUSLY a waste of space. There is an elevator to the photographers rear-left where folks with baby prams or wheelchairs, disabilities etc can get up to the street level (a couple of feet) or down to the ticket gates, so there is really no need for this at all.
Escalators increase the value of second and third floor retail space, among other benefits. They are a critical component of high-density land use.