Gates seeks patent on hurricane 'tubs'

WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and some co-inventors have patents pending on sea-based "tubs" aimed at dampening hurricanes, records indicate.

Searete LLC, a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures of Bellevue, Wash. -- created by former Microsoft executives to develop patent applications for new ideas -- is seeking a patent on giant ocean-going tubs that would drain warm water from the surface and pump up cool water from below, thus robbing hurricanes of the their fuel, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Wednesday.

Gates is listed as an applicant on each of several patents for the idea, which Intellectual Ventures official Paul "Pablos" Holman wrote is meant for a future era when global warming has made devastating hurricanes commonplace.

"This type of technology is not something humankind would try as a 'Plan A' or 'Plan B,'" the Times-Picayune reported Holman as writing in the applications. "These inventions are a 'Plan C' where humans decide that we have exhausted all of our behavior changing or alternative energy options and need to rely on mitigation technologies.

"If our planet is in this severe situation, then our belief is that we should not be starting from scratch at investigating mitigation options," Holman wrote.