Most space elevator proposals I've seen involve extruding a cable from a suitable captured asteroid in geostationary orbit. The asteroid then provides the counterbalance as the cable is built and lowered.Even if we could get a space elevator working, what keeps things in orbit is the horizontal velocity. (You know that pesky centrifugal force equation) g = .5V*V/r...just getting up there isn't enough as gravity still exist. So that pesky reduced (but still existent gravity) is where a lot of the fuel is wasted. So that wonderful pipe dream of a space elevator is useless for maintaining orbit once you get there. And getting out of orbit is a whole nother' ball of wax.