I was just reading this book. Anyone who’s interested in writing, SF, accidents, progress, technology, history of any of the above, or just plain likes reading will likely find it an interesting read.
Anyways, one of the ideas that sparked in my mind, while reading it, is, especially for multi-story office buildings and apartment buildings, realistically, over time the energy that the elevator’s motor adds to the things to be raised (in the form of potential energy) will be taken back from those same things - people, furniture, mail, etc. Why not use the braking effect that is being used to recover some of the kinetic energy of electric and hybrid cars during the braking phase to have loads being brought down from a height contribute energy to the elevator’s motor?
Has anyone tried this and does it work?