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 it can be "cracked" and burned as C02-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 C02 emission allowances granted by governing agencies for alternative energy systems that also cause a direct reduction in SAT.