Mitigating global warming by OTEC-induced ocean upwelling

摘要

This invention mitigates global warming substantially by combining elements from two separate fields in a novel way. It is based on the discovery that the volumetric rate of cold water upwelling that will result in a 1.08 C reduction in the Earth's Surface Air Temperature (SAT) is similar to the volumetric rate of cold water upwelling that would be produced by roughly 20,000 OTEC plant-ships of 400 MW size each. These can generate 7 terawatts of electric power converted to an ammonia energy carrier and shipped to on-land locations, where can be “cracked” and burned as CO2-free fuel for power plants. The large reduction in SAT enables proposal of an affordable financial strategy that would pay most of the costs of the system out of the revenue from CO2 emission allowances granted by governing agencies for alternative energy systems that also cause a direct reduction in SAT.

主权项

1. A process for mitigating global warming, comprising:
a large but environmentally-acceptable number of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) grazing plants; a large rate of cold water upwelling from the ocean depths, induced by the normal operation of the large but environmentally-acceptable number of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) grazing plants; a climate feedback loop including not only a decrease in ocean surface temperature from the upwelled cold water and a decrease in surface air temperature caused by the decrease in ocean surface temperature, but also an increase in sea ice coverage, an increase in average ocean albedo, and an increase in the percentage of incident radiation reflected away from the Earth's surface, all triggered by the OTEC-induced large rate of cold water upwelling from the ocean depths, that causes a substantial decrease in the Earth's average Surface Air Temperature (average SAT) relative to what the average SAT would be without this process being implemented, accruing many benefits from mitigating global warming, and also causes a substantial decrease in the Earth's SAT at locations far away from the OTEC plants, including over polar regions where the obtained reduction in SAT is particularly useful for obtaining the substantial benefit of slowing the melting of land ice, thereby slowing sea level rise; and a number of OTEC plants that is sufficient to cause the resulting substantial reduction in the Earth's average SAT to be significant compared to well-known needs for SAT reduction associated with the mitigation of global warming.