Using an elevator or a lift is a common activity that you will probably do at work, college or home. With high rise workplaces and apartments and malls everywhere taking the stairs every time is difficult. Elevators are powerful electrical devices and hence using them will use up a lot of electricity power. Here are some tips to prevent unnecessary wastage of electricity when you use an elevator.

Lift Pooling: Just like carpooling, this means trying to get more people into the lift (within the safely allowed limits). Before you close the lift doors, look to see if anyone is hurrying to get in and hold the door open for them. This will waste a few seconds for you, but will save a lot of time for the other person. It also means less lift trips and so less electricity used.
Don’t press the up and the down buttons: This is a common mistake most people make. The dictum in most elevators is this. If you would like to go to a floor below, push the down button and if you would like to go to a floor above you, push the up button. Pushing the wrong or both buttons means that the lift will stop unnecessarily when it is not headed to your destination floor. This wastes everyones time (including yours!). needless to say, the stopping and opening of the doors wastes some electricity.
Choose your elevator: May buildings have more than one elevator in the same spot. Usually the call buttons are interlinked. But if you have the option of choosing an elevator, choose the one that is on the closest floor to where you are waiting. Also avoid calling all the lifts when possible. Lifts that travel longer use up more electricity. Calling many elevators will also multiply the electricity costs.
Switch off the fans: If the elevator has a manual switch for the fan, turn off the fan if you are the last person to leave the lift. A lot of modern lifts usually automatically do this.
Don’t let children play with lift buttons: Kids love watching elevator doors open and shut and also pushing all the buttons when they get into the lift. This is both annoying and wastes electricity and someone else’s time. Gently prevent them from doing this.
Take the stairs: Although this may not be possible, if you ned to just walk a couple of flights of stairs, use this option when possible. I work on the third floor and invariably use the stairs all the time! This is healthy too.
These are just some random tips. If you own a lift or have an elevator in your apartment make sure it is serviced appropriately and also cleaned regularly. Lifts that break down or malfunction are expensive to repair and also waste a lot of electricity.Hope you found this article useful.

Note: I have used the words “lift” and “elevator” to mean the same thing. The words are used interchangeably depending on which country you live in!

This article was originally written by me for blogjob and I am submitting it at The Wise Herb too