Low Carbon Materials & GHG Reduction Enablers with KONE

The transformations faced by the elevator and escalator industry are not limited to the operation of finished products. Companies are focusing their efforts on developing manufacturing processes. The need for elevators in a society which will continue to urbanize is not looking to slow down any time soon, especially as large economies like China and India continue to provide growth for the entire industry. Some external estimates state, the global elevator industry market size is forecast to reach €111.11B by 2026.

KONE contributes to improved urban living by helping people move in and between buildings, smoothly and safely. Focusing on sustainable business and sustainable business practices are a large part of these developments. With KONE and Foundry, startups have the chance to develop their offering with a global industry leader, with a  long-term goal of achieving leadership in sustainability.

To review where they are now, Up to 90% of KONE’s elevator materials can be recycled. Today, 93.9% of waste is recycled or incinerated and the company is working towards increasing the share of green electricity to 100% by 2030 , and setting up on-site renewable energy production. By providing their customers with reliable and energy-efficient equipment that has a lifetime of over 25 years, KONE has an important role in keeping resources in valuable use for as long as possible.

KONE isa pioneer in developing eco-efficient solutions in the elevator and escalator industry. For example, their volume elevator is up to 90% more energy-efficient than KONE elevators from the 1990s. Maintenance and modernization services can also have a significant positive impact on equipment lifetime, as well as energy efficiency. For example, modernizing old elevators with the best available technology can bring vast energy savings (up to 70%).

Today, with KONE, we have launched two new business opportunities. The first one is perfect for startups working on digital tools that can help us minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in KONE operations. The second goes deep into KONE manufacturing – startups qualified for this will have solutions to introduce low carbon circular materials into KONE production cycles. Read more about each one here.

Digital Enablers to Reduce GHG Emissions

The KONE carbon neutral strategy includes offsetting emissions that cannot be mitigated. To do this, data is needed for impact assessments. Knowing the CO2 heavy phases of a product’s life helps for making the best decisions. That is why we are looking for digital enablers that can make KONE operations more sustainable through easily accessible data, displayed on dedicated dashboards.

Here we are focusing on digital tools to help gather, analyze, and minimize GHG emissions. The main sources are outside the immediate operations in the value chain, so potential solutions must look into supplying, manufacturing, runtime, and maintenance too. To see more examples, check out the link below, but do remember these are just examples. Any working solution can go beyond them.

Read more here. 

Low Carbon Circular Materials

KONE has set a target to cut down product-related emissions by 40%. To achieve this, KONE is targeting emissions in product lifetime energy use and materials by further improving energy efficiency and product material circularity.

This opportunity has implications for KONE products’ manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life phases. For manufacturing, we seek materials with characteristics of currently used ones but with a smaller carbon footprint. In usage, the products’ energy efficiency and using renewable energy are key features. And at the end-of-life, we are looking for processes that help to reuse or recycle product materials, and also innovative tech to sort these materials.

Read more here.