Today’s modern mid rise and high rise luxury condominiums and apartment buildings offer numerous amenities to attract potential owners. They can offer spectacular vistas through floor to ceiling walls of glass, high end finishes on the floor, gourmet style kitchens with all the modern features one could ever want, and a master bedroom suite that offers a tranquil and quiet place to escape. In these building types, elevators become a necessary component for vertical circulation to access the floors. For those residences that are adjacent to the elevator equipment room or the elevator hoistway, the noise and vibration caused by the operation of the elevator can be a potential source of sound intrusion. Because today’s buildings are constructed with lightweight materials, and because there is a need to generate maximum useable square footage, sound transmission issues are compounded. All this combined can result in unsatisfactory living conditions for tens of thousands who live in condominiums or apartments.

Eco-friendly inventions now enable elevators to operate with much less energy, use less building square footage by eliminating traditional elevator utility rooms, and incorporate eco-sensitive finish materials. Likewise, green strategies for eco-modernizations are also available to renovate traditional elevators. Yet beyond new green technologies and renovations, an elevator itself is an important green tool.

As the use of elevators has grown and their performance has been improved to provide safer, more dependable, and more efficient travel for passengers in multi-story buildings, so too have elevator controls been improved. The operation of the modern-day elevator is very complex, involving strict safety requirements. As a part of an elevator's equipment, the controls must accommodate several types of passenger requirements: VIP service (firefighters and medical personnel), restricted access, non-stop service, and peak demand needs. Elevator controls also need to feature modes of operation for fire response and maintenance.