Baker Escalators

After getting no response from anyone in the Baker Center about the escalators I decided to call the KONE elevator and escalator company to see if I could find anything out there. I talked to Rick Baretta who originally could only give me the technical specifications of the escalator. But, he then offered to talk to some engineers to see if they could figure out what the kW usage would be. Long story short, one empty escalator uses 2.2 kW as it runs per hour. A full escalator, which would mean completely full with a person on each step, runs at 7.5 kW per hour. Rick said that escalators almost never run completely full so a good estimate would be in the 5 kW range.

To calculate the usage you would have to find out how long the escalators run, during what hours people actually ride them, and how many people ride them during those busy hours.

The escalators used by the Baker Center are the KONE Eco3000. Rick said that the engineers are working on a Ecostart after market device that can be retrofitted onto existing escalators. This device will supposedly reduce electricity usage by 30% for the escalators.

By my calculations a completely empty escalator running 24/7, 365 days a year would cost $4,625 a year. The escalators are never completely empty so the number would in fact be higher. But the university is paying at least this much.