Summary

One of the most dangerous projected effects of global warming is sea level rise. It is believed unmitigated global warming will cause sea levels to rise over at least the coming century. Increasing temperatures result in sea level rise by the thermal expansion of water and through the addition of water to the oceans from the melting of continental ice sheets.

Few countries, aside from The Netherlands, have the physical capacity to protect against long-term sea level rise and since greater than 75 percent of the human population lives within 60 km of a coast, it is important therefore that sea level rise be limited to the greatest extent possible to minimize loss of life, and economic and ecological impacts.

The foundation of the GWMM is a geo-engineering technique that would extract heat from the ocean, that would otherwise cause sea level rise, and convert this heat to valuable energy. In the preferred embodiment this energy is then used to desalinize ocean water to irrigate the major hot deserts of the world.

Irrigated, viable, deserts are cooler, have the potential to extract as much as 15.6 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere annually – or a net 6.8 gigatons when decomposition is taken into account – and provide both sustenance and economy to some of the poorest regions of the planet.

Pumping water from the ocean to the desert also reduces the impact of sea level rise and the evaporation alone of the majority of this water lowers desert temperatures and lessens their impact on global climate.

GWMM is an adaptation of James Lovelock’s proposal to draw cold water from the deep ocean to cool the surface and encourage algal blooms. GWMM uses the warm surface water to generated electricity using the principle of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC).

OTEC is a method for generating electricity, which uses the temperature difference that exists between deep ocean water, typically at 5^oC and shallow ocean waters, typically about 15^oC, but as high as 24^oC in equatorial regions where most of the deserts are found, to run a heat engine.

The working fluid of the system is a low-boiling-point fluid such as ammonia or 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, which is vaporized by the warm water, with the vapour driving the heat engine, which in turn drives a dynamo to produce electrical energy. The cold water condenses the vapour in a condenser

Venting the deep ocean water used in the OTEC process to the ocean surface produces the same result proposed by Lovelock.

The temperature of the oceans at a depth below 500 m is not expected to significantly change as a consequence of global warming. The OTEC heat engine requires this cold water as a heat sink to condense the low-boiling-point fluid after it has generated power in the heat engine. One viable and sustainable way to pump this water from the depths, is to harness wind energy far out to sea. Differing concepts for anchoring this sort of turbine offshore have been proposed including ballast stabilization, mooring lines or buoyancy stabilization. One objective of GWMM is to produce a combined wind turbine, producing either mechanical or electrical energy to pump water from depth and possibly onshore, and an OTEC heat engine formed at its base which affords ballast and buoyancy for such an offshore instillation. It may also be more efficient to produce desalinated water offshore, in one of these units or an offshore battery, and bring it onshore rather than the power to accomplish the desired end.

The Earth is hit with 165,000 terawatts of solar power every moment of every day. The ocean absorbs part of this energy causing thermal expansion and sea level rise. Effectively the world’s oceans are thermal batteries that are overcharging storing a potential to seriously harm low lying coastal regions and their inhabitants.

To give 10 billion people, as is the projected population by the year 2150, the level of energy prosperity the developed world is used to, a couple of kilowatt-hours per person, an additional 60 TW of power needs to be generated around the planet. The overcharging oceans are an available and sustainable source of this power.

Producing 1 TW of energy for the next 100 hundred year using the GWMM would extract sufficient energy to maintain ocean temperatures at current levels and thus eliminate the principle driver for raising the sea.

The projected capital cost for a 50 MW OTEC plant is around $8,500/kW which is likely to fall as as capacity is scaled up. This would make the capital cost of producing 1 TW about $8.5 trillion.

In 2006 Lord Stern reported the cost of acting to counter climate change, by stabilizing emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, might be about 1 per cent of annual global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050. But the cost of doing nothing was found to be far greater – risking up to 20 per cent of the world's wealth.

The World Bank World Development database, revised 10 September 2008 indicates the World GDP for 2007 was $54.347 trillion. One percent equates to $543 billion so it would take roughly between 15.6 years worth of Lord Stern’s recommended investment to negate one of greatest forecasted hazards of global warming.

According to the NUS Consulting Group’s International Electricity Report and Cost Survey of electricity rates for 2006-2007 global rates in $U.S. range between 3.56 and 22.89 cents/kwh. Taking the average 13.23 cents/kwh, which is roughly Germany's rate of 13.16cents/kwh for the period, you would generate ((1TW*$.1323)/1000) * 24hrs * 365days = $1.16 trillion dollars worth of power per year and you would pay out your capital cost - barring interest and operating expenses - in about 7.3 years.   

In a September 21, 2009 Newsweek article United Kingdom Prime Minster Brown stated, “Meanwhile the need for low-carbon energy production and infrastructure, in both the developed world and the rapidly growing emerging economies, will require up to $33 trillion of investment by 2030, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency. By 2015, the global environmental sector could be worth $7 trillion and sustain tens of millions of jobs.

But perhaps the most important element of this low-carbon future is the wave of innovation that will accompany the decarbonization drive.”

Most upon hearing such statements hear a $33 trillion expense. Not a capital investments which generates both economic as well as environmental return and in the case of OTEC will pay for itself.

This is the main reasons the climate problem is not being adequatley addressed.

The present invention is concerned with sequestering CO2 and water, and, more specifically, to a method of sequestering CO2 and water in a desert environment. Another concern is the maintenance of sea levels near current levels to prevent inundation of inhabited coastal areas, more specifically, to a method to convert the heat causing thermal expansion of the oceans to a more productive form of energy.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a viable, economic and commercial means of stabilizing the level of the world’s oceans to prevent inundation of many of the world’s populated coastal cities.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a viable, economic and commercial means of curbing the CO2 build up in the atmosphere, which is believed to be contributing to global climate change.

In some embodiments of this invention energy, in the form of heat, is removed from the ocean to reduce thermal expansion of the oceans.

In some embodiments of this invention solar energy is harnessed.

In some embodiments of this invention wind energy is harnessed.

Another object of this invention is to use carbon free, renewable energy sources to desalinate ocean water.

 Another object of this invention is to use carbon free, renewable energy sources to pump water into a desert

Another objective of this invention is to grow commercial products in the Earth’s hot deserts.

Another objective of this invention is to convert the hot deserts to economically viable carbon sinks.

Another objective of this invention is to enrich hot desert soil by composting none commercial vegetable matter.

Another objective of this invention is to provide a sustainable environment for some of the world’s poorest populated areas.

Another object of this invention is to moderate the temperature fluctuations in the desert that sustain its desiccation.

The novel features which are considered characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and as to its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of the specific embodiments when read and understood in connection with the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following specification, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals correspond to like parts shown in the drawings.

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