Comment Re:Electrically-coupled counterweight (Score 2) 248
While such an elevator system would use more power one of the inherent abilities of any electric motor system is the ability to use regenerative braking. You'd probably have a bank of super-capacitors in a utility room, when the elevator was going up it would use the capacitor bank and some power from the mains, when it was going down it would refill the capacitors. Even if you had to put the motors on the elevator car itself this shouldn't be an issue as we have centuries of technology (subways, trains, trolly cars, bumper cars, etc) proving that you can provide power to a moving transportation system and electric motors are quite small (the ones powering electric cars are about the size of a watermelon).