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Patent efforts of Ron Ace in geo-engineering

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

GREG GORDON of Mcclatchy-tribune writes of Ron Ace's U.S. patent petition for what he calls the most "practical, nontoxic, affordable, rapidly achievable" and beneficial way to curb global warming and a resulting catastrophic ocean rise.

IPBiz is not sure what a patent "petition" is. Inventor Ace has an issued patent US 6,688,129, titled Geothermal space conditioning, with first claim

A geothermal system, comprising: a water storage container; a heat exchanger thermally coupled with said storage container; a water inlet leading from an underground potable water source to said storage container for supplying potable water to said storage container; and a water pump connected to said water inlet for returning potable water from said storage container to said underground potable water source through said inlet.

but one suspects Gordon is talking about something else.

Gordon's comments about patenting are naive and wrong, such as A patent certifies that an invention is unique, not that it would work. Gordon apparently is unaware of the enablement requirement of 35 USC 112.

Further, contemplate the science as reported by Gordon:

The evaporating water, Ace said, would cool the Earth in multiple ways: First, the sprayed droplets would transform to water vapor, a change that absorbs thermal energy near ground level; then the rising vapor would condense into sunlight-reflecting clouds and cooling rain, releasing much of the stored energy into space in the form of infrared radiation.

The phase change of liquid water to gas-phase water requires the heat of vaporization, presumably the source of "absorbs thermal energy." The vapor pressure of gas phase water above liquid water is determined by temperature and may be calculated using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Once the equilibrium vapor pressure is reached, one is done, and further "spraying" will not create more vapor phase water. When the vapor phase water reaches something at, or below, the dew point, the vapor phase water condenses, releasing the enthalpy of vaporization. Water evaporates and clouds form all the time. Gordon did not discuss the energy consumed to spray the liquid water relative to the incremental enhancement in water vapor.

Gordon also wrote:

Kenneth Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, roughly simulated Ace's idea in recent months on a model that's used extensively by top scientists to study global warming.
The simulated evaporation of about one-half inch of additional water everywhere in the world produced immediate planetary cooling effects that were projected to reach nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit within 20 or 30 years, Caldeira said.
"In the computer simulation, evaporating water was almost as effective as directly transferring ... energy to space, which was surprising to me," he said.

(...)

David Travis, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater professor who's studied clouds extensively, praised Ace's innovation, but said he's "generally opposed to geo-engineering" solutions and can't imagine evaporating water on a large enough scale to have a near-term effect.

Caldeira, who plans to submit his computer findings for peer-reviewed publication, is among scientists so concerned about sluggish progress in curbing greenhouse gases that they met last year to consider geo-engineering options.

One thing is certain: Ace is dead serious. He's tenaciously compiled more than a thousand pages of research, sometimes during all-night binges despite a fight with cancer. He said he's invested large sums in patenting his global-warming inventions.

Gordon also wrote: Ace's invention looks less loony when compared with some others. NASA scientists conceived the multi-trillion-dollar idea of orbiting megaton mirrors in space to deflect sunlight. Other scientists have proposed reflecting solar energy by placing mirrors on thousands of high-altitude balloons, by foaming the oceans' surfaces or by filling the upper atmosphere with tiny sulfates or inert particles, or by adding water droplets to low-level ocean clouds from 1,500 unmanned boats.

Although the USPTO has no experimental facilities and does not review data, Gordon wrote: "I never saw myself making a dime on it," said Ace, who said he'd donate his patent to the U.S. government if he gets one. "It's mostly that the data seemed to be incorrect, and I wanted to know what is right."

A variant of the article was carried in the Seattle Times.

Full post as published by IPBiz on December 21, 2008 (boomark / email).