The atmospheric vortex engine has been developed and patented independently over several decades by the engineer Louis Michaud in Canada and physicist Norman Louat in Australia. A third party, Pax Scientific in the US has now announced its intention of independently investigating one form of the concept.

The system makes use of the strong positive feedback characteristic of atmospheric vortices to utilise low grade energy resources for the purpose of power generation and climate moderation. An atmospheric vortex is an example of what Ilya Prigogine calls a dissipative structure. The vortex is able to reduce entropy locally, while increasing entropy on a global scale. Thus the system can reduce the global greenhouse effect and aid in moderating global temperature.

The concept has been endorsed in principle by highly regarded experts:
“…What’s necessary at this point is to do proofs of concept,” says professor Kerry Emanuel, the hurricane expert at MIT. “[The] idea is pretty simple and elegant. My own feeling is that we ought to be pouring money into all kinds of alternative energy research. There’s almost nothing to lose in trying this...”