WASHINGTON \u2014 In a U.S. patent application, a little-known Maryland inventor claims a stunning solar energy breakthrough that promises to end the planet\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels at a fraction of the current cost \u2013 a transformation that also could blunt global warming.<\/p>\n
Inventor Ronald Ace said that his flat-panel \u201cSolar Traps,\u201d which can be mounted on rooftops or used in electric power plants, will shatter decades-old scientific and technological barriers that have stymied efforts to make solar energy a cheap, clean and reliable alternative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a fundamental scientific and environmental discovery,\u201d Ace said. \u201cThis invention can meet about 92 percent of the world\u2019s energy needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
His claimed discoveries, which exist only on paper so far, would represent such a leap forward that they are sure to draw deep skepticism from solar energy experts. But a recently retired congressional energy adviser, who has reviewed the invention\u2019s still-secret design, said it\u2019s \u201ca no brainer\u201d that the device would vastly outperform all other known solar technology.<\/p>\n
Ace said he is arranging for a national energy laboratory to review his calculations and that his own crude prototypes already have demonstrated that the basic physics for the invention work.<\/p>\n
If the trap even comes close to meeting his futuristic vision, its impact could be breathtaking: It could reorder the world\u2019s energy landscape, end the global economic drag of soaring energy costs, and eventually curb greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for climate change.<\/p>\n
That all might sound rather rosy, since the previously undisclosed invention has yet to be constructed and fully tested. But John Darnell, a scientist and the former congressional aide who has monitored Ace\u2019s dogged research for more than three years and has reviewed his complex calculations, has no doubts.<\/p>\n