"David M. Palmer" wrote in message ...
... think of
the energy wasted as you drop the ash from your fuel over the side and
let it just fall back to Earth. (If you could use it as a
counterweight to pull you up, then you'd be better off.)

Are counterweights crazy? Obviously so if the "rope" has to run the
whole length of the beanstalk, but what if it runs only 100 km or so?
Attach a car at each end, one goes up while the other goes down. When
the cars are at the extreme positions, they change over to a different
pair of ropes. (Or the cargo moves to another car on a higher or
lower rope.)

This arrangement means there have to be two cars every 100 km or 500
on the beanstalk at all times, and they have to run on a schedule or
all stop and wait for delays to be sorted out. That's a nuisance, but
this scheme might reduce power requirements quite a lot. Are there
any show stoppers? I've just guessed at a likely length of the rope;
would a different guess have been better?