The treatment:

Energy Drive is a simple tale of the few being sacrificed for the good of the many; or, less optimistically, the exploitation of the poor and young for industrial progress. It takes place in a fantastic city of picturesque architecture, all towering structures of stone and weathered wood, red clay rooftops, and cozy nooks lit by roght-iron gas lamps. The whole takes on the appearance of a small model set, a ideal and impossible microcosm.
The story follows a small boy and his sister, the only inhabitants of the city seen on screen, when in the dead of night they are taken to become literal fuel to provide the city with electricity to start the new day. At first the incident seems to be an attack from outside the city, as alarms go off and the kidnapper appears to be some bizarre steam-powered tin robot. In the end, it is revealed that the alarms were due to power reserves running low, and the city’s very cornerstone is this night-harvest of its least fortunate.

Concept art: