Reaping the Whirlwind

The atmospheric vortex engine

A proposal for the utilization of updraft systems to sustainably generate electrical power, reduce global warming and increase rainfall
Presentation by

Donald Cooper MIEAust

Photo: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Background: Latent Heat in Atmospheric Water Vapour is Released Within a Buoyant Plume
The energy required to transform a tonne (roughly one cubic metre) of ice at minus 70oC into vapour at 30oC is around 3.5 Gigajoules.

Conversely, transforming a tonne of water vapour into ice between the same temperature range liberates this amount of energy into the environment. This is comparable to the chemical energy contained in a hundred litres of fuel oil. The notional volumetric ratio of water vapour to fuel oil is thus in the region of 10:1.
A rising atmospheric plume typically works between 30oC at ground level to minus 70oC at the top of the troposphere. As the water vapour condenses and eventually freezes, energy is released. This warms the surrounding air, resulting in an increase in the buoyancy and hence the corresponding potential energy of the air within the plume. This buoyancy can be utilized to convey the air-water vapour mixture to higher altitude, and in some instances supply excess energy for the production of electrical power as a by-product.

The Energy Content of Atmospheric Water Vapour

It has been estimated that the Earths atmosphere holds in the region of 12,900 cubic kilometres of water in the form of water vapour (ref:
The Case for Alternative Fresh Water Sources; 2000). D Beysens & I Milimouk; Secheresse; Dec.

Based on the 10:1 rule of thumb, this then has the energy content equivalent to about 1,200 cubic kilometres of fuel oil, and a significant percentage of this can be sustainably harvested, mostly for lifting water to an altitude where precipitation can be initiated, radiating heat to Space, but also a significant percentage for nonpolluting electrical power generation.

The vortex engine principle, invented independently by Australian physicist Norman Louat and Canadian engineer Louis Michaud is designed to achieve these aims.

A Comparison of Earths Stored Energy Resources

Crude Oil Reserves Latent heat of water vapor in the bottom kilometre of the atmosphere Heat content of tropical ocean water 100 m layer, 3C

1 km height

100 m depth

7.3 x 1021 J

13 x 1021 J

130 x 1021 J

Replenishment times
109 years 10 days
Eric Michaud

100 days

Time for Replenishment of Atmospheric Water Vapour

Most vapour is replenished within less than 10days

Source: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/04/water-vapour-feedback-or-forcing/

Assumptions / Calculations
Crude Oil Reserves Latent heat of water vapor in the bottom kilometre of the atmosphere Heat content of tropical ocean water 100 m layer, 3C

1200 10 bbl
9

[1]

10

6100 106

J [2] bbl

kg m2

[3]

1000

kg 100 m 3 m

[6],[7]

2.5 106

J kg

[4] [5]

4190

J 3 C [8],[9] kg K

510 1012 m2

510 1012 m2 20% [10]

7.3 1021 J
[1] World Crude Oil and Natural Gas Reserves, January 1, 2007, Energy Information Administration [2] Energy Calculator, Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.doe.gov

13 1021 J
[3] Assuming 10 kg/m2 average moisture content in the bottom 1 km of the atmosphere [4] Latent heat of water vapour (conservative value neglecting the latent heat of fusion) [5] Surface area of the Earth

130 1021 J
[6] density of water
[7] Assuming 100 m depth [8] sensible heat of water [9] Assuming 3C [10] Assuming the area of Earths tropical oceans = Area of Earth x 20%
From original figures supplied by Eric Michaud

Dissipative Structures
Although the atmospheric and sea energy resources cited above would normally be regarded as low grade and hence not available for power production, it will be argued that the highly non-linear processes within an atmospheric vortex allow the energy to be tapped. Vortices are, in the words of the Nobel prizewinning chemist Ilya Prigogine, dissipative structures. Dissipative structures are far-from-equilibrium thermodynamic systems that generate order spontaneously by exchanging energy with their external environments. They include: physical processes (eg whirlpools, tropical cyclones and RayleighBenard cells ), chemical reactions (eg - In the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction an organic acid (Malonic acid) is oxidized by Potassium Bromate in the presence of an appropriate catalyst, for example Cerium), and biological systems (eg cells). Due to the unique dynamics of the vortex, the apparently low grade energy of the warm humid air is liberated by linking it with the extremely cold air at the top of the troposphere.

NASA
Convection of water vapour through the Troposphere provides by far the most effective single way in which Earths heat can eventually be re-radiated to Space.

As greenhouse gases such as CO2 and H2O increase, so too, must convection processes.

The Greenhouse Effect

The deficit between downgoing and upgoing radiation must be made up for by convection processes

Water vapour is by far the most important greenhouse gas

NASA

Possible Negative Feedback from Cloud Cover

Given the strong water vapor feedback seen in observations (~2 W/m2/K), combined with estimates of the smaller ice-albedo and lapse rate feedbacks, we can estimate warming over the next century will be several degrees Celsius. You do not need a climate model to reach this conclusion you can do a simple estimate using the observed estimates of the feedbacks along with an expectation that increases in carbon dioxide will result in an increase in radiative forcing of a few watts per square meter. The only way that a large warming will not occur in the face of these radiative forcing is if some presently unknown negative feedback that cancels the water vapor feedback. My opinion is that the cloud feedback is the only place where such a large negative feedback can lurk. If it is not there, and the planet does not reduce emissions, then get ready for a much warmer climate
Professor Andrew Dressler - Department of Atmospheric Sciences of Texas A&M University
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/guest-post-by-andrew-dessler-on-the-water-vapor-feedback/

The Vortex Engine should significantly increase local cloud cover.

The Heat Pipe

Qin

Qout

The heat pipe is an extremely effective device for transmitting heat. For equilibrium, the heat input Qin must equal the heat output Qout.

The Troposphere: Natures Heat Pipe

Convection processes such as storms, cyclones and tornados are the primary means of effectively pumping heat out of the ocean, into the atmosphere, and lifting it to where it can be re-radiated into space, thereby mitigating the heat build-up that would otherwise occur.

The Interrelationship between Insolation and Precipitation

The average annual precipitation of the entire surface of our planet is estimated to be about 1050 millimetres per year. (Source PhysicalGeography.net). The average global insolation at the surface of the Earth is estimated as 180 W/m2 (Source PhysicalGeography.net). Over one year, this would be equivalent to the energy required to produce an evaporation rate of about 1600 millimetres, but part of the energy would inevitably go to heating atmospheric air.
Hence around two thirds of the solar energy reaching the Earths surface goes to the evaporation of water and creation of a heat pipe effect, which eventually dumps heat back to Space.

The Atmospheric Temperature Profile

Thermosphere
80 km

Mesosphere
50 km

Stratosphere

Ozone Layer
10 km

Troposphere

-90oC -70oC

0 oC

30o C

Temperature

SIMPLIFIED GRAPH OF ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE PROFILE

The Atmospheric Temperature Profile:

With relation to the previous diagram, generally atmospheric temperature declines with altitude except where:

incoming solar radiation is absorbed in the stratosphere (in which the ozone layer lies), and solar wind particles are intercepted in the thermosphere which includes the ionosphere.

The Troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest region of the Earth's atmosphere, where masses of air are very well mixed together and the temperature decreases with altitude. The air is heated from the ground up because the surface of the Earth absorbs energy and heats up faster than the air. The heat is mixed through the troposphere because on average the atmosphere in this layer is slightly unstable.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/layers_activity_print.html&edu=high

The proposed vortex engine is basically a system to enhance the transmission of energy through the troposphere

First, the Vortex Engines cousin: the Solar Updraft Tower

Solar Chimney

Manzanares 200 m high, 10 m diameter Collector 0.04 sq. km 50 kw, 130 J/kg, 1 Mg/s Spain 1982 to 1989
LMM

Enviromission EnviroMission 800 m high, mm diameter. 1 km high,130 130 diameter Collector 7 sq km?km Collector 7 sq. 200 MW, 300 tonne/sec 200 MW, 800 J/kg, 300 Mg/s Australia / US Arizona, 2015
16

Atmospheric Vortex Engine

Enviromission has committed to build a 200 MWe solar-thermal power station in Arizona by 2015.

Background
EnviroMission estimates the tower will cost around US$750 million to build. The output has already been pre-sold - the Southern California Public Power Authority recently signed a 30-year power purchase agreement with EnviroMission that will effectively allow the tower to provide enough energy for an estimated 150,000 US homes. Financial modelling projects that the tower will pay off its purchase price in just 11 years - and the engineering team are shooting for a structure that will stand for 80 years or more.
http://www.gizmag.com/enviromission-solar-tower-arizona-clean-energy-renewable/19287/ http://www.enviromission.com.au/EVM/content/media_animations.html

1400 MW CCGT Power Station with Dry Cooling Towers

135 m high hyperbolic tower Heat exchanger panels

These cooling towers would each be capable of dumping around 500 MW of thermal power into the atmosphere heat sink
After discussions with Louis Michaud, a major cooling tower developer is reportedly considering incorporation of a vortex flow within their design in order to enhance the updraft. In comparison, it is estimated that the main structure of a 200 MWe vortex engine would be around 100 m high and 200 m diameter.

Updraft Clouds

Updraft velocities of up to 240 km/hr have been recorded - enough to hold hailstones of up to 178 mm diameter aloft. Atmospheric water vapor should arguably be regarded as a storehouse of solar energy.

Vortices in Nature

World Book

The tornado is a highly effective mechanism through which Nature acts to convey humid boundary layer air to the top of the Troposphere where precipitation is initiated. The anvil is formed when it reaches the tropopause, the interface with the stratosphere.

The Power Dissipation of Atmospheric Vortices

The powers dissipated by vortices are in the order of:

Tornado Tropical Cyclone Severe Tropical Cyclone 1 GW 3,000 GW 30,000 GW

Precipitation Efficiency (ep) vs. Cloud Height

ep = 0

ep = 0.5

ep = 1

Tropopause altitude 10 - 12 km

Altitude

Adapted from Divine Wind

Relative Humidity (RH)

RH Earth

RH

When clouds reach the top of the Troposphere, precipitation efficiency tends towards unity. Some evaporation occurs during the descent of the rain, but this is not an entire loss as the evaporation causes cooling of the surrounding air, subsequent downdrafts, and horizontal wind when the flow hits the ground. Some of this energy can be harvested by means of conventional wind turbines.

The Vortex Engine

Boundary layer fence Solid canopy several hundred metres diameter over air intake

Main vortex chamber

Air picks up heat from pipes acting as water-to-air heat exchangers before entering the vortex engine main vortex chamber

Turbine inlets

Adjustable dampers downstream of turbines modulate and guide the flow of hot air into the main vortex chamber.

The vortex chimney generated by the vortex engine can be regarded as a natural worm hole which is able to link the high and low temperature strata of the troposphere, thereby conveying air to altitude and release the energy contained in atmospheric water vapour.

Solar Updraft Tower

Hybrid Vortex Engine

Atmospheric Vortex Engine

~5 km

10 km

~2 km

Uses ambient air

Uses ambient air

Uses either humid tropical ambient air or waste heat from power plant

Hot Sedimentary Aquifer

Hybrid Vortex Engine

Opaque insulated canopy

Guide vanes generate swirl in air flowing to the vortex centre

~ 90oC hot water from geothermal reservoirs recycled through pipe coils acting as water-to-air heat exchangers under the collector area of the canopy.

Positive Feedback Within a Vortex

1. 2. 3. 4. Warm air rises towards the centre (the eye) of the centrifugal field as it is less dense. It is also more buoyant in the Earths gravitational field and hence rises vertically when it reaches the eye. Atmospheric water vapour, which has a mass density about 63% that of air at the same temperature and pressure, is also displaced towards the centre of the centrifugal field and rises vertically once in the eye. Centrifugal force reduces the pressure at the centre of the centrifugal field. Low pressure again means low density and hence high buoyancy. A buoyant gas has inherent potential energy. As the air/vapour mixture progresses to the low-pressure eye, some water vapour condenses, releasing latent heat. The typical tornado funnel is visible because of the condensed water particles.

Each of the above acts to create a strongly buoyant updraft within the eye and hence a self-sustaining natural chimney effect. Just as the potential energy of elevated water can be used to drive hydroelectric turbines, so too can the potential energy of a warm air/vapour mixture drive wind turbines.

The Power of the Vortex

Funnel of visible rising water vapour and warm air
Air at altitude rotates with the vortex and cannot enter the cone of the vortex eye. On the other hand, less dense water vapour content is preferentially displaced towards the eye by the centrifugal field

Moist air within the stagnant boundary layer is able to move towards the low pressure eye due to the relative lack of centrifugal force

Diagrammatic representation of the dynamic vortex chimney in a tornado The vortex naturally concentrates a highly buoyant and high-enthalpy air and water vapour mixture at its centre. It is thus an extremely non-linear system.

Airflow in a vortex at altitude

Centrifugal force
Pressure gradient force

High pressure

Low pressure

Rotation

Diagram adapted from Divine Wind

At altitude, the pressure gradient force (inwards) exactly equals the centrifugal force (outwards). Air thus rotates without a significant radial component

Airflow in a vortex near ground level

Pressure gradient force

Centrifugal force

High pressure

Low pressure

Diagram adapted from Divine Wind

friction

Within the boundary layer, friction acts to reduce the rotational velocity and hence the centrifugal force. The air is consequently able to spiral towards the low pressure at the vortex centre.

A Tropical Cyclone seen as a Carnot Cycle

(The colour coding indicates zones of equal entropy) Source: Divine Wind by Kerry Emanuel

The Carnot Engine

The Carnot thermodynamic cycle has the equal highest possible theoretical efficiency of any cycle, but has not been practicable for use in mechanical heat engines. The ideal thermodynamic efficiency of a Carnot cycle is a function of difference between the extreme temperatures of the cycle. The relationship between efficiency and temperature difference is given by

Max.abs.temp Min.abs.temp Max.abs.temp T T1 2 T2 300 200 300 100 300 33 o o

Hence for the temperatur es involved in this case

Geothermal Energy Priming of the Vortex Engine

Vortex Engines will have to be located, initially at least, far from population centres. There will be a powerful not in my back yard effect.
Geothermal energy is therefore an excellent candidate to prime the vortex engine process. The Atmospheric Vortex Engine can work satisfactorily with low grade geothermal energy (<100oC), whereas typical Rankine cycle power plant requires temperatures above 200oC. Hot sedimentary aquifers such as those of the Great Artesian basin and Otway basin are arguably the best sources for vortex engine priming energy as they have the advantage of being easily tapped with well-proven technology. The Birdsville geothermal power station plant derives its energy from the near-boiling (98oC) water taken from the Great Artesian Basin at a relatively modest depth of 1230m.

Geothermal Energy Economics

Bore Drilling Costs vs Depth
12,000 10,000

Best fit curve

Cost ($1,000)
8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Depth (Metres)
(source: A Comparison of Geothermal with Oil & Gas Well Drilling Costs MIT Feb 2006)

From the drilling cost graph, it can be seen that because of the power law on the drilling cost curve, the economics are radically improved by using shallower bores. Alternatively an otherwise uneconomic geothermal field can be tapped closer to the end use point, dramatically reducing transmission costs. For instance the Cooper basin field in Australia is around a thousand km from the end use point. Transmission capital costs are typically in the order of $1 million per kilometre, hence adding around $1 billion to the cost of a typical power station. It should be noted that drilling costs are expected to be very substantially reduced with the development of new drilling technologies. In the worst case, the infrastructure cost of geothermal priming energy for a 1 GW system (~200 MWe output) could be in the region of $100 million. Note that the geothermal energy does not have to meet the whole energy input, as there is a high level of enthalpy available in the atmosphere, even in winter. In a less optimal geothermal region, the cost could be higher, but the power transmission cost would normally be much lower.

A possible alternative to water as a heat transfer medium is the use of supercritical CO2. Work is being carried out in this regard, with several advantages being predicted: No picking up dissolved salts within the hot rock heat exchanger, which otherwise causes nuisance scale build-up in above-ground heat exchangers. Supercritical CO2 has a lower viscosity than water and hence has lower pumping losses and higher heat transfer rates within the underground loop. According to computer modelling, this could increase heat extraction rates by 50%. Some of the CO2 would be naturally sequestered during the process. It has been estimated that up to 3.6 tonnes could be sequestered for every megawatthour of electricity produced. A state of the art coal plant produces about 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt-hour. (Source: New Scientist, Oct 11 2008)
New drilling methodologies are being developed which promise to very significantly reduce the cost of deep drilling. Currently the limit is around six kilometres, but depths of nine kilometres are being mooted with new drilling technology (Source: New Scientist, Oct 11, 2008). It may be possible to combine geosequestration with Vortex Engines and coal-fired power station in the medium term, with a pure geothermal /Vortex Engine system taking over in the longer term.

Cooper basin

Atmospheric Water Content

It has been estimated that only 2% of the atmospheric water content is in the form of clouds. The remaining 98% is in the form of water vapour. At 1% average water content, the lowest one kilometre of the atmosphere above the Australian continent contains in the region of 100 billion tonnes of water. The flow of water through the atmosphere is coming to be recognized as flying rivers.

Comparison of Absolute Atmospheric Water Content Between Melbourne and Moomba (%w/w)
1.0% 0.9% 0.8%

Atmospheric Vapour Content (% w/w)

0.7% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.0% JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL MELBOURNE AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC

MOOMBA

Melbourne is in a relatively rich temperate agricultural region, Moomba in a desert in the Cooper Basin, the driest region on the Australian continent.

Relative Humidity vs. Absolute Water Content

The desert air has a low relative humidity, but the much more important absolute moisture content can be comparable to that of cooler, more temperate regions.
Notice that the absolute moisture content of the air is lower in winter than in summer. This is initially counterintuitive.

How much precipitation can be expected?

A 200 MW vortex engine is expected to generate around 20,000 tonnes of precipitation per day, assuming 1% atmospheric water content and evaporation losses of around 50% in falling to ground. If it falls within a radius of 10 km, this would theoretically amount to only about 30 mm per annum. There is some reason to believe this may be amplified by natural processes.

Flying Rivers

Sunlight pours around a "flying river" a vast, humid air current over the Amazon rain forest
Photograph courtesy Grard Moss, Flying Rivers Project

Forest Rainfall Generation

Ref: New Scientist

worldwide.html

April 1, 2009

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227024.400-rainforests-may-pump-winds-

Forest Rainfall is Related to the Vortex Engine Precipitation

...How can forests create wind? Water vapour from coastal forests and oceans quickly condenses to form droplets and clouds the gas [from this evaporation] takes up less space as it turns to liquid, lowering local air pressure. Because evaporation is stronger over the forest than over the ocean, the pressure is lower over coastal forests, which suck in moist air from the ocean. This generates wind that drives moisture further inland. The process repeats itself as the moisture is recycled in stages, moving towards the continents heart. As a result, giant winds transport moisture thousands of kilometres into the interior of a continent. The volumes of water involved in this process can be huge. More moisture typically evaporates from rainforests than from the ocean. The Amazon rainforest, for example, releases 20 trillion litres [20 billion tonnes] of moisture every day.

In conventional meteorology the only driver of atmospheric motion is the differential heating of the atmosphere. That is, warm air rises, Makarieva and Gorshkov told New Scientist. But, they say, Nobody has looked at the pressure drop caused by water vapour turning to water... New Scientist 01 April 2009 Refer also: Precipitation on land versus distance from the ocean: Evidence for a forest pump of atmospheric moisture; A.Makarieva, V.Gorshkov and Bai-Lian Li; ScienceDirect 10 Jan 2009.

Evaporation of Water at the Sea Atmosphere Interface

The vortex engine is theoretically most effective near the equator, due to a combination of high temperatures and humidity. To enable the Vortex Engine to achieve maximum efficiency at mid to higher latitudes, local humidity has to be increased. Others have looked at this before: ...However the evaporation of water from the sea surface is slow and inefficient because of the need for large amounts of latent heat and because the perpendicular component of turbulence in the air vanishes at the surface leaving a stagnant humid layer (Csanady 2001). The wind has to blow over thousands of kilometres of warm sea before it can bring rain. Saudi Arabia is dry because the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf are narrow. Chile is dry because the Humboldt current is cold...
http://www.mech.ed.ac.uk/research/wavepower/rain%20making/shs%20rain%20paper%20Feb.pdf

The proposed mechanism to attain this is shown in the next slide.

Evaporation of Seawater at Coast

Offshore wind Freshwater rain Salty rain Humid air Humidification due to partial evaporation of rain Multiple land-based vortex engines, optimised for power generation

Multiple offshore vortex engines located ca 20 50 km from coast, using geothermal energy to evaporate seawater, and optimised for generation of water vapour

Hot rocks (low to medium grade geothermal energy)

The Desertification of Australia

There is evidence that the desertification of much of Australia coincided with the replacement of fire-tender rainforest with fire-resistant sclerophyll forest about a hundred thousand years ago. This may have been due to increased lightning strikes with climate change, or the arrival of Man: For a specific example Makarieva and Gorshkov point to prehistoric Australia. They believe the pump explains the enigmatic conversion of Australian forests to deserts that roughly coincides in timing with the appearance of the first people.

According to Makarieva and Gorshkov, when these early peoples burned small bands of forests along the coast where they first inhabited, The internal inland forests were cut off from the ocean (the tube of the pump cut off) and underwent rapid desertification.
Simply put a loss of coastal forestswhich had been driving rain from the ocean into the interiorcaused Australia's current dry climate. If Australia hadn't lost those coastal forests, its environment may be entirely different todayand would not be suffering from extreme and persistent droughts. Source: Mongabay.com, 1 April 2009

The Desertification of Australia

This thesis is supported in Fire: The Australian Experience : Some scientists believe that this dramatic increase in charcoal is due to fires deliberately started by people, and that the changes in vegetation cannot be explained just in terms of climate changes. This is because, at this site, there had been little change in vegetation before this, despite significant fluctuations in climate in North Eastern Australia. In addition to this there was a continuous charcoal record throughout all samples, indicating that there would always have been some naturally occurring fire in the environment and this also had little effect on the environment. Evidence of this kind has been used to support the theory that Aborigines were living in Australia well before the generally accepted figure of 40,000 years ago.
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/file_system/attachments/State/Attachment_20050308_44889DFD.pdf Also see Arid Australian interior linked to landscape burning by ancient humans http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/uoca-aai012505.php

Early Man can be excused because of ignorance, but today we know what we are doing. Thus rainforests such as those of Amazonia and Borneo may also be vulnerable to destruction by the actions of Man: see the details in http://www.unep.org/pdf/GEOAMAZONIA.pdf . This report discusses the future of the Amazon, including the potential impact of climate change. It warns that the combination of climate change and deforestation for farming could destroy half the Amazon within 20 years.

Enhanced Precipitation over Land

Rainfall (mm)

The use of vortex engines cannot increase global precipitation, but in conjunction with forests, it may be able to enhance its distribution. It can be seen above that maritime regions are currently strongly favoured.

Peak Water
The concept of peak oil is well known. Somewhat less well known is that fact that we are mining fresh water supplies much faster than they can be replenished:

...In some regions, water use exceeds the amount of water that is naturally replenished every year. About one-third of the worlds population lives in countries with moderate-to-high water stress, defined by the United Nations to be water consumption that exceeds 10 percent of renewable freshwater resources. By this measure, some 80 countries, constituting 40 percent of the worlds population, were suffering from water shortages by the mid-1990s (CSD 1997, UN/WWAP 2003). By 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. According to another estimate from the United Nations, by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity, and two out of three people in the world could be living under conditions of water stress (UNEP 2007)....
From M.Palaniappan and P.H. Gleick in http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/ch01.pdf, 2006. We have a vicious circle in that population pressures are causing deforestation and hence degradation of the forest pumping effect. The vortex engine can help to kick start this again.

The Vapor Field as Solar Collector

Tri-atomic molecules such as carbon dioxide and water vapor are efficient absorbers of infra-red radiation

Absorption of Infra-Red Radiation

compared to molecular nitrogen and oxygen, water vapor molecules are capable of great gymnastic feats. Besides being able to stretch and compress, they can bend at their mid-sections, rotate, and perform combinations of stretching, bending and rotating. Because they can move in such complex ways, they can absorb and emit much more radiation than molecules that consist of only two atoms Changes in energy state of a single molecule are communicated to neighboring molecules with which it collides Absorption of radiation increases air temperature Professor Kerry Emanuel MIT Thus the vapour field associated with a large forest is an efficient solar collector in its own right. The solar energy is stored as the high enthalpy inherent in warm humid air. Most of this enthalpy is in the form of the latent heat of vaporisation of water, and this energy can be utilized within the vortex engine. Hence the engines should ideally be utilized synergistically with forests, helping to modify the local, and on a large enough scale global, climate.

Advantages of Convective Vortex Systems

Reduced CO2 emissions Zero fossil fuel use instead utilization of stored solar energy within atmospheric water vapour and air Increased precipitation over land means increased plant growth and subsequent photosynthesis hence natural sequestration of CO2 Increased heat radiation to space hence global cooling Significantly increased terrestrial Albedo

Why Wont it Run Away?

The humidity of the surrounding field would be kept below the critical level at which the vortex would be self-sustaining. Only after passing geothermal hot water/steam through the vortex engine heat exchangers would the energy level become supercritical. The air temperature would be in the region of 40 50 Celsius above ambient. The boundary layer fence would act to quarantine the vortex from the surrounding boundary layer, except for allowing the flow of air through the control dampers and turbines.

What Sort of Power Will Be Produced?

Based on a total power similar to an average tornado (1 GW expended) and an overall system efficiency of around, say, 20%, a power output of 200 MW could be expected per engine.

What will It Cost?

Based on extrapolation from dry cooling tower costs, a 200 MWe plant could be expected to cost in the order of $500 million. There are many unknowns at this stage, but this estimate is probably conservatively high.

This would compare favourably with that for Enviromissions 200 MWe solar power tower prototype, which is expected to cost in the region of $750 million, or a conventional geothermal power station of the same output which would cost around $800 million, before power transmission costs were factored in.

Will it Work?
Nilton Renno, a professor at the department of atmospheric, ocean and space sciences at the University of Michigan, has spent his career studying tornadoes and water spouts. He says there is no reason why Michauds vortex engine wouldnt work. The concept is solid, says Renno. Still, Renno is not without reservations. Hes particularly concerned about the ability to control such a powerful monster. The amount of energy is huge. Once it gets going it may be too hard to stop, he says The Toronto Star July 21 2007 This is where research and development engineering is needed Whats necessary at this point is to do proofs of concept, says professor Kerry Emanuel, the hurricane expert at MIT. [Michauds] idea is pretty simple and elegant. My own feeling is that we ought to be pouring money into all kinds of alternative energy research. Theres almost nothing to lose in trying this... ODE Magazine March 2008

Where Would It Work Best?

Regions
Tropical regions with good geothermal resources such as Indonesia and the Philippines Arid or semi-arid regions such as Australia, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Palestine and southern and northern Africa Along arid regions with good geothermal resources such as Afghanistan, Tibet, northern India, Pakistan, Jordan, Ethiopia and Nepal South western USA and northern Mexico Offshore north-western Europe - Britain and the Netherlands reportedly have the highest frequency of tornadoes per unit area on Earth, although of relatively low intensity Offshore Japan (geothermal resources and high CAPE) Low crosswinds High CAPE (convective available potential energy) Geothermal energy availability Currently arid or semi arid (to make use of enhanced precipitation)

Ideal Conditions

How High Would the Vortex Need to Be?

For maximum precipitation, the top of the vortex should be towards the top of the troposphere (ref Emanuel chart slide 23) As the Carnot efficiency is a function of temperature differential, again, higher altitudes will give higher efficiencies In general, the system should aim to achieve altitudes above about five kilometres. The solar updraft tower with a one kilometre high stack can only achieve an efficiency in the order of 2%

Thermals

Birds have been extracting energy from thermal updrafts for millions of years. Glider pilots have been copying them for about eighty years and we take this for granted. With some not particularly high-tech engineering, much higher energy can be extracted via vortex engines. It is envisaged that the vortex engines would be interconnected within a power grid. If high cross winds were experienced in one area, local generators would be closed down and power imported from another part of the grid.

Stability of Thermals
Thermal updrafts are stable in terms of both space and time. Crosswinds act to reduce the strength of the updraft by causing turbulent mixing with the surrounding atmosphere. There is no reason to believe that the updraft plume from the vortex engine would be any different.

Climate Change
The following text is extracted from MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel's book "What We Know About Climate Change," published in 2007. It appears to be apposite to the current situation:
The global mean temperature is now greater than at any time in at least the past 500 to 1,000 years... Rainfall will continue to become concentrated in increasingly heavy but less frequent events. The incidence, intensity, and duration of both floods and drought will increase. The intensity of hurricanes will continue to increase, though their frequency may dwindle. All these projections depend, of course, on how much greenhouse gas is added to the atmosphere over the next century, and even if we could be certain about the changes, estimating their net effect on humanity is an enormously complex undertaking, pitting uncertain estimates of costs and benefits against the costs of curtailing greenhouse-gas emissions. But we are by no means certain about what kind of changes are in store, and we must be wary of climate surprises.

Even if we believed that the projected climate changes would be mostly beneficial, we might be inclined to make sacrifices as an insurance policy against potentially harmful surprises.

The Carnot Potential Wind Speed

Map showing the maximum wind speed in MPH achievable by tropical cyclones over the course of an average year according to Carnots theory of heat engines.
Source: Divine Wind by MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel

Australias Position
From the Carnot potential wind speed distribution, it can be seen that Australia is positioned in a region of high cyclonic potential.
This has usually been seen as a problem, but there is a strong argument that it may also be turned to advantage.

Why dont we just take the easy route by using wind and solar energy?
It has been argued that the exploitation of wind energy affects convection processes within the Earths atmosphere. A greater temperature gradient will be required to dissipate heat to Space, and hence global warming will be slightly enhanced. See:
http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg21028063.300/1-wind-and-wave-farmscould-affect-earths-energy-balance.html

Solar Power
Solar power has similar disadvantages due to its low efficiency; from the same source: ...For photovoltaic technology to be sustainable, it will have to be based on cheaper and more readily available materials such as zinc and copper, says Kasturi Chopra of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi... Even if solar cells like this are eventually built and put to work, they will still contribute to global warming. That is because they convert only a small fraction of the light that hits them, and absorb most of the rest, converting it to heat that spills into the environment. Sustainable solar energy may therefore require cells that reflect the light they cannot use.

There is also the energy required to manufacture the solar cells to be factored in.
The vortex engine should be largely immune from these criticisms, as it enhances convection processes and any waste heat from the process will act to increase the buoyancy of the convection plume. It would also be working in partnership with the only form of solar power which is sustainable in the long term, the plants within rainforests.

The increasing severity of tropical cyclones and tornadoes in some regions is arguably a pointer to Earths need to dump heat to Space.

Thats fine, but we need to learn to control the location, frequency and intensity of the process hence the need for vortex engine research

Uh Oh... Lightning!

But a relatively small price to pay

Harnessing the vortex principle will not be easy, and the risks are significant. On the other hand there is a strong argument that research must be carried out to determine its viability: [Global warming is] perhaps the most consequential problem ever confronted by Mankind. Like it or not, we have been handed Phaetons reins, and we will have to learn how to control climate if we are to avoid his fate. Kerry Emanuel

Quick Links:
The AVETec Website: http://vortexengine.ca

The Sky's the Limit (ASME Mechanical Engineering Journal) http://memagazine.asme.org/Articles/2011/April/Skys_Limit.cfm A New Spin on Climate Engineering (Pax Scientific Vortex Project) http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/a-new-spin-on-climateengineering.php Amazon Losing "Flying Rivers," Ability to Curb Warming http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091217-amazonflying-rivers-climate.html

Contact:

[email protected]

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