Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the designer of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, has joined forces with Energy Vault to explore the possibility of creating something even taller - huge skyscrapers 1 km high. The company has plans to use them as giant gravity-fed energy storage systems. The idea behind the EVu system is to store energy while lifting the multi-ton blocks to heights of 300 to 1,000 meters, and generate it during the controlled descent of the modules to ground level. At the moment of excess electrical energy, the blocks are fed to elevators and raised to the height. According to engineers' calculations, approximately 1 mW of electricity is generated during the descent of a 3.5×2.7×1.3-meter block at a speed of 2 m/sec. In addition to the EVu gravity system, the team proposes a so-called EVc system - that is, water can be used in a similar way. It could be pumped to the top of the skyscraper and then discharged to run turbines and generate electricity. So far, the concepts are still in the development stage. SOM's partnership with Energy Vault demonstrates a commitment to not only accelerate the world's transition away from fossil fuels, but also to jointly explore how renewable energy architecture can improve shared natural landscapes and urban environments.