This just in, (h/t to Sonicfrog) the swamp cooler is being re-invented as a global warming solution. No mention of what the increased global humidity will do for the planet’s radiative balance. No mention of what the increased humidity would do for night-time low temperatures.
SUNSTOP writes to tell us that a relatively unknown Maryland scientist has proposed a public patent that he claims could combat global warming. The proposed plan would require massive amounts of water to be sprayed into the air in an effort to bolster the earth’s existing air conditioning system.
Ron Ace, a 69-year-old, has been researching the earth’s climate for years and has found what he calls the most “practical, nontoxic, affordable, rapidly achievable” and beneficial way to curb global warming and a resulting catastrophic ocean rise.
Ace proposes to spray gigatons of sea-water into the air and in effect, build a “a colossal refrigeration system with a 100,000-fold performance multiplier.” He contends a number of positive effects would be in action at the same time to help stave off warming.
“The Earth has a giant air-conditioning problem,” he said. “I’m proposing to put a thermostat on the planet.”
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.
Kenneth Caldeira, a climate scientist for the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University whose computer simulation of Ace’s invention suggests it would significantly cool the planet. 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.
But it appears that maybe they just haven’t thought this through carefully:
“Some complications related to releasing huge amounts of water into the air are not well understood, however.”
In the Slashdot comments there is this that caught my eye:
by cthulu_mt (1124113) on Friday December 19, @04:42PM (#26177863)
I think this gem earns a “whatcouldpossiblygoright“.
Sure, Ace, let’s spend who-knows-how-many billions building and running your contraptions (for which you will be paid handsomely, no doubt), to try to “fix” a non-problem, with god-knows -what environmental, let alone climatic consequences.
The earth already has it’s own, extremely powerful thermostat – the oceans. Combined with the varying sun, no “thermostat” man could possibly devise can compete with what nature already does, nor is it necessary, nor is it at all wise.
Mr. Ace, as a scientist and a human being, you are a disgrace.
Cannonball!!!
All unemployed people in the USA and Canada would be paid to do 250 cannonballs into lakes and rivers and pools each day (weather permitting) . The resulting splashes would cool North America!!!!!!
Can I have my grant money now?
May I suggest my own patent pending idea. I am developing a clear varnish that is completely transparent to longwave infrared radiation. The varnish to be impregnated with pure CO2 gas in the form of minute bubbles less than half millimeter in size. The varnish can be applied to the ceilings of rooms that need more warmth. About two layers should provide a complete layer of trapped CO2 about one millimeter thick, far in excess of IPCC requirements, and will reliably reflect warmth from any radiating body in the room, like wife at ironing board. Guaranteed to last the life time of the building.
Shares will be offered on the open market in due course.
In addition to increasing the amount of water vapor in the atmospheres, there are two other scenarios which should be considered if seawater is used for cooling:
1. As the seawater evaporates, salt crystals (NaCl) will be come airborne and these crystals may accelerate precipitation through cloud seeding.
2. In extremely arid regions of the world, such as the Persian Gulf, Red Sea or Eastern Mediterranean these sprays could significantly increase downwind precipitation
There have already been proposals to flood below sea level depressions in Israel (Dead Sea) and Egypt (Qattara Depression) with seawater. In such a situation the energy from the falling seawater could be used to power the sprays. If a closed seawater delivery system were used the water pressure could power the sprays directly.
In the United States the Salton Sea and Death Valley would be possible candidates for such a project. The Salton Sea sprays could be powered by the falling seawater from the Gulf of California. Given the distance, Death Valley would require energy intensive pumping. As in Israel and Egypt, there have already been proposals advanced to re-flood the Salton Sea. Unfortunately in the United States such climate modification projects would be quickly killed by the Greenies. The Death Valley Devil’s Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) was the endangered species which was used to upheld the Endangered Species Act before the Supreme Count. The chance of doing anything which would modify the climate in Death Valley is ZERO!
Ron Ace’s proposal to cool the Earth is ridiculous and the Sun may already be doing the job for free. As an idea for terraforming inhospitable sections of the Earth the concept may have merit and should be studied. There are several countries in the Persian Gulf with the financial resources to fund a project which promised to increase precipitation. For sea level sprays, all those proposed floating wind-turbines could be put to good use if the concept works. I should also point out that Ron Ace’s idea is not original and he may not be able to defend a patent as this 2002 paper demonstrates.
Spray Turbines to Increase Rain by Enhanced Evaporation From the Sea
http://www.mech.ed.ac.uk/research/wavepower/rain%20making/shs%20rain%20paper%20Feb.pdf
For additional information see the following and note the positions of the environmentalist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming
Exponential (06:18:07) :
“Is this the same idea as having everyone piss in the wind?”
Certainly not in the oceans, with the rising sea level and all.
By the way, where is the zero reference point for sea level?
Typical Engine Combustion:
“Fuel + Air => Hydrocarbons + Nitrogen Oxides + Carbon Dioxide + Carbon Monoxide + water ”
Consider the amount of combustion occurring world wide, at this very moment, using a carbon based fuel, and then consider the amount of water vapor being created and emitted into the atmosphere.
High preasure mist systems are used in the desert to cool out door patios. I know. I had one installed 10 years ago. They work great under optimal conditions. Such as: very light wind from the correct direction, and a fine enough filter to strain minerals from the water. By the time I sold that house 3 years later I realized there was no value in the idea for home use.
So we suck up gigatons of water run them through enough filters then we could send a super fine mist into the air. We could actually cool a region of the desert. O sorry it is a desert because there is no water.
We donot need people sending seawater into the air as we have already put that eco-system in danger with our KINDNESS! Thanks Eco-warriors for all !
I think its a great idea and we should begin immediately to implement this water vapor/negative feedback concept though a massive infusion of federal dollars.
The large number of jobs this would create – in high tech sector at that – would put an immediate end to to the economic woes now gripping the nation. In addition the cooling of the planet will fullfill one of the core promises of the incoming administration.
The only problems I can imagine are that (1) the high priests of AGW would have to admit that water vapor is a negative feedback, and (2) the resulting mini ice age would kill millions of people in the third and developing world.
VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Cooling is ‘not evidence that global warming is slowing’
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/36525244.html
How stupid does this make politicians such as Barack Obama and the other suckers who have fallen for the “global warming” hoax as they race to say, “Never mind”?
Actually, they haven’t missed a beat. These guys are so “scientific” that the evidence of their own eyes and overcoats has become irrelevant. They now contend global cooling is just further proof of global warming. Honest.
The Obama gang mean for us to learn to survive at 55 degrees in the winter; and to hope the tourists will still come to Vegas when our air conditioning only lowers the temperature to 87 in the summer (assuming we can afford even that.) They plan to unionize and thus close down most of our remaining factories — the Chinese will make us everything we need, you see; we’ll pay for it with the endless bales of green coupons printed by Ben Bernanke and the Elves in the Big Hollow Tree.
To see Mr. Obama admit “Under my plan, electricity costs will necessarily skyrocket” visit http://www.climatechangefraud.com/.
In a Zogby exit poll, 88.4 percent of Obama voters expressed ignorance of the fact Obama said on the campaign trail that his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket. See the sample interviews at http://howobamagotelected.com/.
Why did voters not know this? Because the mainstream press covered Wasilla, Alaska, like a glove, trying to dig up something on Sarah Palin’s overdue library books. Meantime, when it turns out Barack Obama’s Senate seat is for sale for a million bucks in Chicago, the press corps slaps their foreheads and exclaims in amazement: “More corruption in Chicago than there was in Wasilla?! Who would have thought to look there?! By the way, where is Obama from, anyway?”
For more enlightenment, read the entire article.
The interesting part, to me anyway, is the contradiction of “mainstream” GHG opinion related to the effect of more water vapor:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008544401_warm21.html
“Caldeira’s computer results could surprise many scientists because water vapor is a greenhouse gas widely recognized to be more powerful than carbon dioxide. The simulation suggests, however, that water vapor’s cooling effects overwhelm its heat-trapping properties.”
I wonder what the computer simulation folks think about this. Is there a positive feedback from water vapor that increases the warming effect of CO2, or is there a negative feedback that hinders or prevents warming?
It appears that Mr. Ace may have tested his device in Northeastern Indiana on Thursday night. As a wintery mix of snow/sleet began to fall, the temperature rose from around 21 to about 29, whereupon the snow sleet mix turned into a freezing rain/mist. By the time it was over, everything was covered with between a half inch and an inch of ice (on top of the 3″ of snow already on the ground). Before any of it had a chance to melt, the temperature fell back into the low 20’s on Friday. A whole bag of ice-melter had zero effect on my driveway, the surface of which I may not see again until spring. Last night, as the temperature plummeted to zero, the wind picked up to 25-30 mph (-25 wind-chill), and the trees (the ones still standing) began to rain shards of ice.
Well, done, Mr. Ace — I think your device has considerable merit. Perhaps you could hire Algore’s carbon trading investment company to act as a marketing consultant. They seem to have a way of selling the un-sellable. And just remember — there’s a sucker born every minute. (Sarc. off)
IPBiz comments on: Patent efforts of Ron Ace in geo-engineering
on reflection, Ace’s “patent petition” may be a provisional patent that has not yet published.
Micajah
“I wonder what the computer simulation folks think about this. Is there a positive feedback from water vapor that increases the warming effect of CO2, or is there a negative feedback that hinders or prevents warming?”
In the world of Finagle, Bougerre and Diddle programming, the feedback depends upon the desired outcome.
I got that coal mining comment out just before the election. I read it on icecap.us . I drove over to my local Republican headquarters and said, “You have got to listen to this.” Within two hours, it was on Fox News, unfortunately it was the Sunday before the election. If I had known about it earlier, I would have been on it earlier.
I am not a scientist, but I have a mouth and I know how to use it.
“Some effects are not well understood” which, of course, means this is the best plan that we have and it should go forward complete with government funding from all over the world and the backing of the entire AGW movement, Greenpeace and WWF included.
To paraphrase, it seems that some consequences are not well understood.
Well, no s— Sherlock!
Another idea on a par with the idea from the 70’s of spreading soot on the Arctic to prevent a new Ice Age.
jarhead (09:42:56) :
They’re actually quite interesting and accept any form of heat. I don’t think they’re anywhere near as efficient as Freon/carnot based refrigerators, but they’re good if you have a source of waste heat or don’t have electricity. My wife bought a used one for a yurt, but we haven’t hooked it up yet.
I lived in a house in Pittsburgh for a year with a gas refrigerator. Never heard a peep, never figured out how it worked, it was always cold.
It turns out they use a mix of hydrogen, ammonia, and water in a loop at constant pressure but rely on ammonia dissolving in water and being forced back out to make it flow through the system.
See http://www.gasrefrigerators.com/howitworks.htm
I’m sure that he’ll be able to find buckets of venture capital in the current financial climate for his fine idea.
I’ve been wondering since hydrogen-powered cars have been proposed about what ill effects could be generated by massive amounts of water vapor being released into the atmosphere. While I only expressed my concern sarcastically, the issue is a legitimate one.
“Ace proposes to spray gigatons of sea-water into the air”. I’m betting he’s not removing the salt from the water before hand. I’m hopeing salty rain is good for buildings and crops.
Well to be patentable, an invention has to be non obvious to one of oredinary skill in the art; which implies two things; it doesn’t matter if it is not obvious to someone who is not skilled in the art, and it doesn’t matter if it is obvious to some one who is a crackajack practitioner of the art (so why didn’t he patent it)
And in this case it is obvious to anybody, because the entir planet is just a giant swamp cooler so it has been around for billions of years. so it wouldn’t get by me if I was the patent examiner.
Mother nature’s version of this gus “invention” is exactly why we couldn’t change the temperature of this planet either up or down, even if we wanted to.
But as to whether spraying water droplets around is “evaporative” cooling, it most certainly is; because the aim of sprayig the water around in small droplets is to vastly increase the surface area to volume (mass) ratio which enhances evaporation.
By the way; I have one and it works like a champ,,and since my well water is 68 deg F all the time, year inand year out, it cools extremely well when the air temperature is 108 in the California central valley.
So if some genius comes up with a way to change the earth’s temperature; who is going to have control of the temperature knob ?
Just asking.
OT again but more (new) CO2 info.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27242
I have an even more intelligent idea: if all the AGW desciples would just stop spewing hot air by continuing to voice their discredited theories…
REPLY: All matters of opinion, even if wrong, are protected free speech. Our job is to sort wheat from chaff. – Anthony
Don’t foolishly put your eco-dollars into swamp coolers! My “community based” coal-fired refrigeration units (patent pending) is the only solution which provides true granular regional temperature control.
Why change the climate of the entire planet (very expensive) when you can just cool your local neighborhood? Does it really matter how hot the deserts get when no one lives there? Of course not.
As an added benefit these units can be operated in “heat pump” mode. In the case of a global warming induced “freeze”, there’s no need to bring your potted plants inside!
Christmas in July, sun bathing in December… Uncle Larry makes it all possible.
If you would like to invest in this consensus proven technology, simply leave 10% of your country’s GDP in a brown paper bag on my doorstep. Future generations will thank you!
-Uncle Larry
As a fellow Maryland cleantech scientist / inventor at the University of Maryland I thank Mr. Ace for his work on and dedication to this important problem. Keep up the good work!. I urge all critics to take up the effort and get involved.
John M. Pisciotta