Environmentally Friendly Transportation

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions?

Part 5 — Transportation

Transportation is a big arena for environmentally friendly innovations. Recreational eco-friendly vehicles from California; what’s not to like?

The nine Transportation Index patents are evenly spread over eight USPC classes:

• chairs and seats
• automatic temperature and humidity regulation
• railways: surface track
• prime-mover dynamo plants
• electric resistance heating devices
• marine propulsion
• buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
• data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location.

We’ll consider “Clean energy powered surfboards,” an invention of Kendyl A. Roman of Sunnyvale, CA. The patent (8,070,544) was issued on December 6, 2011 and is classified as 441/74, which is a surfboard.

I believe you’ll see the novelty of the invention, and its environmental friendliness, by reading the abstract:

“Clean energy powered surfboard having various advantages that make for easy to learn, easy to use, safer, exciting, high performance, environmentally friendly surfing on any ocean wave in the world. The various embodiments include novel motor, turbine, or electric motor generator surfboards comprising hydrogen or electric-powered motors, which can be switch-activated and which drive jet pumps. Energy can be stored as compressed gas, including air and hydrogen. Energy can be stored in novel capacitors that are incorporated in the body of the surfboard. Energy can be generated by solar or water power while surfing or by passing waves, for example, while waiting for a big wave. An output jet provides thrust to catch a wave, to return to the wave breaks, or to avoid a hazard. A novel fin output jet increases stability and maximizes thrust. Self-contained, self-recharging embodiments are low cost, lightweight, safer, and good for the environment.”

Hang 10!

Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions Part 4

 Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions - Water

As we’ve seen in earlier posts over the past months, innovations related to water treatment, production, or conservation are an important feature of the patentECOsphere.

Of the 11 Water Index patents that explicitly purported to be environmentally friendly in our review period (2007-2011), nine are within Class 210, liquid purification or separation.

Patent No. 8,043,499, “Portable and autonomous desalination system,” invented by Farooq Saeed (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) and Ahmed Z. Al-Garni (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) was issued on October 25, 2011 and assigned to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia). Their invention is considered by the USPTO to be a structural installation of machinery within the broad class of liquid purification or separation inventions (210/171).

Although narrowly classified according to its original classification, it is actually a “portable and autonomous desalination system [using] an autonomous reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system utilizing power from a combination of electricity generation and storage sources that include a photovoltaic (PV) unit, a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) unit, and an electricity storage unit. Electric power from PV, VAWT or storage units or a combination of these units is provided, depending upon the availability of sunlight or wind, or for night operation for water desalination using the reverse-osmosis process. The unit is portable, environmentally friendly, self-sufficient and self-sustaining in terms of supplying the electricity and fresh drinking water needs of the typical household.”

Adaptations could perhaps be applied to disaster relief and recovery (the Fukushima and Indonesia tsunami, and Haitian earthquake come to mind), or applications to the oil and gas drilling industry.

patentECO Environmentally Friendly Water Inventions

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Water Inventions?

Part 4 — Water

As we’ve seen in earlier posts over the past months, innovations related to water treatment, production, or conservation are an important feature of the patentECOsphere.

Of the 11 Water Index patents that explicitly purported to be environmentally friendly in our review period (2007-2011), nine are within Class 210, liquid purification or separation.

Patent No. 8,043,499, “Portable and autonomous desalination system,” invented by Farooq Saeed (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) and Ahmed Z. Al-Garni (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) was issued on October 25, 2011 and assigned to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia). Their invention is considered by the USPTO to be a structural installation of machinery within the broad class of liquid purification or separation inventions (210/171).

Although narrowly classified according to its original classification, it is actually a “portable and autonomous desalination system [using] an autonomous reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system utilizing power from a combination of electricity generation and storage sources that include a photovoltaic (PV) unit, a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) unit, and an electricity storage unit. Electric power from PV, VAWT or storage units or a combination of these units is provided, depending upon the availability of sunlight or wind, or for night operation for water desalination using the reverse-osmosis process. The unit is portable, environmentally friendly, self-sufficient and self-sustaining in terms of supplying the electricity and fresh drinking water needs of the typical household.”

Adaptations could perhaps be applied to disaster relief and recovery (the Fukushima and Indonesia tsunami, and Haitian earthquake come to mind), or applications to the oil and gas drilling industry.

patentECO Ecofriendly Energy Inventions

LED Street Light

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Energy Inventions?

Part 3 in our Environmentally Friendly Series

We continue our review of recent environmentally friendly patents with the Energy Index.

Slightly more than half of the Energy patents in this survey are related to illumination, electrochemistry, prime-mover dynamos (motors, turbines, and the like), or electric lamps.

The Daily Energy Report estimates that “street lighting costs represent one of the largest components of a city government’s utility bill, often accounting for 10 to 38 percent of the total tab . . . the energy used by street lighting installations accounts for the third largest use of power in local governments . . . On a national level . . . there are nearly 35 million street lights in the United States, and that [number] accounts for about 1 percent of all electricity used nationally.”

Xuliang Li (Dongguan, Peoples Republic of China) attempts to reduce street lighting energy requirements through the used of LED street lights, as described in Patent Number 7,832,898, “Environmentally friendly street lamps.” Assigned to Dongguan Kingsun Optoelectronic Co., Ltd (Hengjiangxia Village, Changping Town, Dongguan, Peoples Republic of China), is classified by the USPTO as 362/249.02 for illumination by plural light sources with a support having a light emitting diode. The environmental friendliness of Li’s invention arises from its configuration, intended to reduce undesirable light dispersion.

If brought to market, this would certainly be an improvement over the old high intensity mercury-vapor lights.

Today Discovery Retires

patentECO - Environmentally Friendly to Industry

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions? 

Part 2 - Industry

We return to the last five years of environmentally or ecologically friendly patents.

The 234 environmentally and ecologically friendly patents are overwhelmingly found within the patentECO Industry Index.  The patentECO Industry Index a broad range of inventions covering everything from green buildings and construction to clean technologies developed in healthcare, manufacturing, and products.  Here is a summary of how the 234 environmentally or ecologically friendly patents breakdown:

Index	Number of Patents	%
Industry	185	79.1%
Energy	25	10.7%
Water	11	4.7%
Transportation	9	3.8%
Agriculture	4	1.7%

Six US Patent Classification system (USPC) classes comprise the top 25 percent of these patents, with another 12 classes making up the second quartile. The top six classes are:

OR Class	Number of Patents	Class Title
210	16	LIQUID PURIFICATION OR SEPARATION
428	11	STOCK MATERIAL OR MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES
427	9	COATING PROCESSES
524	9	SYNTHETIC RESINS OR NATURAL RUBBERS -- PART OF THE CLASS 520 SERIES
507	7	EARTH BORING, WELL TREATING, AND OIL FIELD CHEMISTRY
510	7	CLEANING COMPOSITIONS FOR SOLID SURFACES, AUXILIARY COMPOSITIONS THEREFOR, OR PROCESSES OF PREPARING THE COMPOSITIONS

Over the next few posts, we’ll look at a representative patent from each of the five Indexes, starting with Industry below.

Of the 185 Industry Index patents that were described as environmentally or ecologically friendly, 50 percent of them pertain to: materials; liquid, coatings, or chemical production/processes; or buildings.

Patent Number 7,556,862 is an example of one of the Industry patents issued in Class 428, which includes inventions related to stock material or miscellaneous articles. This patent, “Protein based wood finishes and methods for producing the same,” was issued on July 7, 2009 to Mingruo Guo (South Burlington, VT), Nareen Wright (Washington, DC), and Jiancai Li (South Burlington, VT). Their invention, assigned to the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College (Burlington, VT), provides environmentally friendly wood finishes that use reduced levels of solvents and provide a safe and protective coating for wood and wood products. The invention is classified within class 428 as 428/532, for a composite (nonstructural laminate) of carbohydrate. The basis for their wood finish is captured in claim 1:

“A wood finish solution comprising between 2.8% and 4.2% whey protein by weight, wherein the whey protein is denatured whey protein.”

Whey protein is derived from milk — their invention is a direct application and update of milk paint that was used on many Vermont barns for hundreds of years, and is still available as a commercial product.

patentECO - The Count on Ecofriendly Inventions

Earth Rise from Apollo 8

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions?

The title of my last post started with the phrase “environmentally friendly.” How many patents have issued in the past five years (2007-2011) that are environmentally or ecologically friendly?

Searching for the words ‘environmentally’ or ‘ecologically’ and ‘friendly’ in either patent titles or abstracts in Way Better Patents patentECO Indexes for the years 2007-2011 returns 234 utility patents. A utility patent covers inventions for a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or a new and useful improvement of any of them. Here are the earliest patents and issue year with the following words in either the title (T) or abstract (A):

Ecology

3,855,698 Ecology Nail-Clip Reservoir Device, 1974 (T)

3,693,464 Reciprocating-Rotary Motion Conversion Device, 1972 (A)

Ecological

3,420,739 Closed Ecological System for the Support of Animal Life and the Method Thereof, 1969 (T)

3,672,579 Process for Beneficiating Magnetite Iron Ore, 1970 (A)

Ecologically

3,752,109 Ecologically Controlled Ship’s Hull Reconditioner, 1973 (T)

3,662,695 Roofing Factory Fume and Solid Waste, 1972 (A)

Environment

1,747,804 Method of Producing a Balanced Environment for Fish Life, 1930 (T)

3,579,907 Automated Controlled Environment for Continuous Production of Plant Life, 1971 (A)

Environmental

3,077,053 Environmental Planter (T), 1963

3,558,865 Weapons Effect Display System, 1971 (A)

Environmentally

3,676,401 Environmentally Disintegratable Plastics Compositions Comprising Copolymers of Ethylene and Carbon Monoxide and a Degradation Accelerator, 1972 (T)

3,668,087 Brine Dechlorination, 1972 (A)

I should note that the word ‘environment’ and its stems (-al, -ally) may not pertain to the earth’s ecosystem as we mean in these posts. These terms are often used to describe the physical, chemical, thermal, or electrical conditions or boundaries of, for example, computer, software, or logic chip operations, manufacturing processes, and spacecraft operations.

The following list of historical events may have had some influence over the patents and their issue dates as listed above:

• September, 1963. President Kennedy conducted a five-day, eleven-state conservation tour, at the instigation of Senator Gaylord Nelson, a subsequent founder of Earth Day.
• December 24, 1968. Iconic Earthrise photo over the limb of the Moon taken by Apollo 8 astronauts.
• January-February, 1969. Santa Barbara oil spill.
• January 1, 1970. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is effective.
• March 21, 1970. The first Earth Day was observed.
• December 2, 1970. The Environmental Protection Agency begins operation.

In subsequent posts, we’ll cover recent representative environmentally friendly patents from the patentECO Indexes.

patentECO - Environmentally Friendly

Environmentally Friendly Energy From Natural Gas

In keeping with my recent energy/natural gas theme, I offer for your consideration Patent Number 7,281,590.

Issued on October 26, 2007, along with 3,507 other patents that issued that day (including one for a “Petunia plant named ‘Kersamfan’ ”), the “Environmentally friendly method for generating energy from natural gas” invention of Wouter Willem van de Waal (Rotterdam, Netherlands) presents subject matter exactly as stated in the title. The patent, assigned to Dropscone Corporation N.V. (Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles) is considered by the USPTO as a patent for a well in which CO2 or carbonated gas is inserted, being classified as USPC 166/402.

Claim 1 focuses on preventing soil subsidence of a natural gas well:

“A method for producing energy from natural gas in a natural gas reservoir and preventing soil subsidence in the natural gas reservoir, comprising the steps of:

a) admixing an oxygen containing gas with the natural gas and converting said oxygen containing gas and said natural gas in the presence of CO.sub.2, into a flow comprising CO.sub.2 and water, whereby energy is generated

b) removing at least a part of the water from the flow comprising CO.sub.2 and water, so that a gaseous product flow is obtained;

and c) injecting at least a part of said product flow into the natural gas reservoir from which the natural gas has been extracted characterized in that, said oxygen containing gas has a nitrogen content substantially lower than air, wherein injecting at least a part of said product flow into the natural gas reservoir substantially prevents soil subsidence in the natural gas reservoir.”

By combusting natural gas in the presence of a a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide, heat, water, and carbon dioxide are produced. The inventor proposes injecting at least part of the carbonated water back into the well, which prevents soil subsidence, and allows the recovery of geothermal energy, which can be used to either heat the natural gas prior to combustion or feed heat exhangers for other purposes.

Properly considered a cogeneration technology, this invention is found in he patentECO Energy Index.

Return on Your Clean Tech Transportation Investment

Today's New York Times has a very interesting article on the payoff for people who buy hybrid, plug-ins, and other fuel efficient cars.  "Payoff for Efficient Cars Takes Years" by Nick Bunkley didn't deliver much in the way of good news.  The Times notes that with the exception of, "two hybrids, the Prius and the Lincoln MKZ and the diesel-powered Volkswagon Jetta TDI, the added cost of the fuel-efficient technologies is so high it would take the average drive many years - in some cases more than a decade - to save money over comparable new models with conventional internal combustion engines."

It will take until gas hits $8 a gallon for the ROI to drop down to six years.

The Volt, the automobile fiasco from GM would take 24.2 years, or as much as 27 years depending on how you message the numbers, for the fuel savings to payback the initial additional cost of the electric car.

The report assumes 15,000 miles of driving per year which may be high for some drivers making the payoff time even longer.

Check out the table with the article that makes the comparison between the "efficient cars" and comparable gas models.

As an interesting sidebar to this article, Way Better Patents' review of the USPTO Green Technology program revealed that many of the patents granted in transportation were focused on improvements to internal combustion engines.

Maybe a new clean tech strategy is in order.

patentECO - Fill 'Er Up - With What?

Fill ‘Er Up — With Electrons or Hydrogen?

Gasoline, compressed air, hybrid gas/electric, diesel, electric, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, gas/electric/steam — some of the vehicle power sources in recent patents. There are also patents pertaining to the fueling station technologies for these types of vehicles.

For example, Meyer Steinberg (Meville, NY) was recently granted Patent Number 7,910,258 for his invention “Natural gas direct carbon fuel cell,” which provides a natural gas fueled, direct carbon fuel cell producing electricity and hydrogen. The patent, issued on March 22, 2011 and assigned to HCE, LLC of Oakton, VA, is classified as 429/472 chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and process, using a fuel cell with a molten electrolyte.

Claim 1 states:

“A natural gas fueled, direct carbon fuel cell for producing electricity and hydrogen comprising:

a cathode compartment comprising: an oxygen-containing gas;

a carbon dioxide feeding port;

and a molten electrolyte;

an anode compartment comprising: a port for feeding natural gas to the anode compartment;

a hydrogen extraction port;

a carbon dioxide extraction port;

and a slurry comprising said molten electrolyte;

wherein the anode compartment further comprises: a louvered baffle dividing the anode compartment into an ante-chamber adjacent to the port for feeding natural gas, wherein the ante-chamber comprises the hydrogen extraction port;

and a main chamber adjacent to the separator between the cathode compartment and the anode compartment;

and an electron insulating, ion conducting, porous ceramic separator between said cathode compartment and said anode compartment.”

Steinberg’s invention uses methane or natural gas as a fuel in a direct carbon fuel cell to co-produce hydrogen and electricity. He envisions that it “is especially amenable to producing and supplying hydrogen at vehicle gas filling stations. A natural gas fed direct carbon fuel cell is much more efficient and economical than conventional steam reforming of natural gas now being deployed for supplying hydrogen at gas filling stations. It also can do so with considerably reduced greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emission compared with the conventional steam reforming process . . . [c]arbon dioxide is emitted at 100% concentration [from the fuel cell], so it can be easily collected and either sold or sequestered. Furthermore, [his] invention simultaneously produces electricity and hydrogen. The electricity can be sold to power companies . . . or can be dispensed at the gas station for electrically powered vehicles.” Maybe we’ll need to refer to them as electricity outlets, rather than gas stations.

Found in the patentECO Energy Index, this invention may have a long wait to market penetration, given the recent (temporary) shutdown of the Chevy Volt line.

patentECO - Almost No Carbon Dioxide Emissions

No CO₂ from Carbon-based Fuel

Sounds like a bumper sticker. It’s actually the subject of Patent Number 8,047,007 issued  to Robert M. Zubrin (Indian Hills, CO) and Mark H. Berggren (Golden, CO) on November 1, 2011. Their invention, “Methods for generating electricity from carbonaceous material with substantially no carbon dioxide emissions,” assigned to Pioneer Energy, Inc. (Lakewood, CO), provides in claim 1:

“A method for generating power from carbonaceous material, comprising:

boiling water into steam;

reforming the carbonaceous material with the steam to generate a high-pressure gas comprising carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas, wherein sufficient steam is provided to ensure a substantial majority of the carbonaceous material is converted into carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas;

exchanging heat from hot gas exiting the reforming step with the steam entering the reforming step;

separating at least a portion of the carbon dioxide gas from the high-pressure gas to generate a carbon dioxide-rich gas and a hydrogen-rich gas;

utilizing the carbon dioxide-rich gas in an industrial process;

and generating power in a power generation system from a portion of the hydrogen-rich gas, wherein waste heat from the power generation system is used to provide heat to the boiling water step.”

The carbonaceous material is selected from coal, biomass, natural gas, crude petroleum, ethanol, methanol, and trash, according to claim 2. The industrial process which uses the CO₂-rich gas is fuel production, growing algae and growing plants in greenhouses, or carbon sequestration in a saline aquifer, depleted oil field, depleted gas field, or unmineable coal seam, according to claims 15-17. Claims 19 and 20 require that the power generation system is either a gas turbine or a fuel cell.

The invention is classified as 60/780, for power plants having a fuel conversion (e.g., reforming, etc.) process. It was one of the patents issued from the USPTO’s Green Technology Pilot Program, which accepted applications for accelerated examination from December 8, 2009 through mid-February 2012. The patent issued 6 months after the application was filed; the average pendency for Tech Center 3700 (the Tech Center responsible for this subject matter) in 2011 was 37.4 months according to the USPTO’s Data Visualization Center’s Patent Dashboard.

In this case, the inventors and assignee were well-served in achieving an accelerated examination for their clean technology, found within the patentECO Energy Index.