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What is lift energy storage system (lest)?

Called Lift Energy Storage System (LEST), the system that the team describes in the journal Energy, involves moving containers of wet sand to the top of a building during elevator downtime, such as at night. Remotely operated autonomous trailers could be used to load and unload the containers, Hunt and colleagues propose.

Can elevators save energy?

The idea is to lift heavy loads up using elevators to store renewable electricity as potential energy, and then lower them to discharge that energy into the grid when needed.

Could a lift energy storage system unlock skyscrapers?

Researchers from the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, Austria, looked at the height and location of skyscrapers and saw a huge amount of pre-built energy storage waiting to be unlocked. The Lift Energy Storage System (LEST) would make use of the existing elevator systems in tall buildings.

How efficient are smart elevators?

In a study published in the journal Energy, the researchers state that state-of-the-art permanent-magnet synchronous gear-motor smart elevators can operate with efficiencies near 92 percent, when the elevators are fully loaded and set to descend at an optimal speed for energy generation.

Why should you invest in a new elevator?

First and foremost, it lives right in the middle of the cities it serves, using ready-made properties of the tallest existing infrastructure known to man – that cuts down hugely on capital expenses, since all you need to do is roll some robots and weights into the lobby, and fiddle with the elevator programming, and you're off.

Could a magnetic elevator be more efficient than a cable-free thysenkrupp?

If large amounts of energy are needed quickly, the lifts can be set to descend faster, at the expense of some efficiency – and this system could become even more efficient when paired with a cable-free, Willy Wonka-style magnetic elevator system like the Thysenkrupp multi-elevator in the top image.