Scientist Patents New Method To Fight Global Warming

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. "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."

Comments

How does that work

[jonbryce]

Water vapour is generally considered to be a greenhouse gas, ie it makes the planet warmer than it would otherwise be.

It isn't as much of a problem as CO2 or methane only because it doesn't stay in the atmosphere for long.

Re:A Little Known Maryland Scientist Has Made Publ

[mcgrew]

luckily such crack pot schemes don't get off the ground.

There, added a couple of links.