U.S. patent application number 10/423644 was filed with the patent office on 2004-07-22 for clean forest region certification.
Invention is credited to Hess, Robert J., Murcia, Philippe R..
Application Number | 20040143463 10/423644 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29270776 |
Filed Date | 2004-07-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040143463 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Murcia, Philippe R. ; et
al. |
July 22, 2004 |
Clean forest region certification
Abstract
Certification of the cleanliness of a property with respect to
the amount of waste wood remnants (deadwood) that are present on
the property relative to the amount of healthy biomass tree species
present on the property. Proof of the certification of cleanliness
may be given to the owner or resident of the property where the
certification took place. Such proof may be submitted so that the
owner or resident of the property receives a monetary benefit. The
submission may be to an insurance company, which lowers the premium
to the insured for risk of loss. The submission may be to
consummate the sale or purchase of air rights over the property
that satisfy carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emission levels
that are set by domestic or international standards.
Inventors: |
Murcia, Philippe R.; (White
Plains, NY) ; Hess, Robert J.; (Stamford,
CT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
GIBBONS, DEL DEO, DOLAN, GRIFFINGER & VECCHIONE
1 RIVERFRONT PLAZA
NEWARK
NJ
07102-5497
US
|
Family ID: |
29270776 |
Appl. No.: |
10/423644 |
Filed: |
April 25, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60376294 |
Apr 26, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/4 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01G 23/08 20130101;
A01G 3/08 20130101; A01G 23/099 20130101; G06Q 40/08 20130101; A01G
23/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/004 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of certification, comprising: clearing property of at
least some deadwood, the deadwood being selected form a group
consisting of fallen timber and sickly trees and a combination
thereof; certifying that a sufficient amount of the deadwood has
been cleared off the property so that a percentage of a volume of
the deadwood remaining on the property relative to a total volume
of healthy tree species remaining on the property falls within a
percentage range of what is needed for forest regeneration without
exceeding such a range; submitting proof of the certifying, and
realizing a monetary benefit based on the submitting of the
proof.
2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the property either belongs to
an Insured or is where an Insured resides, the realizing being
derived from a reduction in an insurance premium of the Insured to
cover a potential risk of loss, the reduction being based on the
proof.
3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of fire damage arising from fire burning the
deadwood on the property because of spontaneous combustion of the
deadwood on the property prior to the clearing or from fires
spreading from adjacent property areas to the deadwood on the
property prior to the clearing.
4. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of the Insured contracting a disease that is
derived from insect infestation of the deadwood on the property
prior to the clearing.
5. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk to health of the Insured attributed in part to
exposure to organisms that reside on or in the deadwood prior to
the clearing.
6. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of fire damage or wind damage to a structure on the
property of the Insured that has intrinsic historical value where
the risk of fire damage is from combustion of the deadwood on the
property prior to the clearing and the risk of wind damage is from
breakage of the deadwood on the property falling on the structure
prior to the clearing.
7. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes breakage from trees falling that is in proximity to either
a property boundary with adjacent property or to a public
thoroughfare.
8. A method as in claim 2, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes risk of pollution from water runoff on the property,
wherein contaminants from the deadwood seep into the water
runoff.
9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the benefit is derived from
purchase or sale of air rights over the property that may be bought
and sold with respect to satisfying an emission level of carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide.
10. An apparatus to reduce an insurance premium, comprising: means
for clearing property of at least some deadwood, the deadwood being
selected from a group consisting of fallen timber and sickly trees
and a combination thereof; means for certifying that a sufficient
amount of the deadwood has been cleared off the property to provide
certification so that a percentage of a volume of the deadwood
remaining on the property relative to a total volume of healthy
tree species remaining on the property falls within a percentage
range of what is needed for forest regeneration without exceeding
such a range; and means for submitting proof of the certification,
which results in realizing a monetary benefit based on the
proof.
11. An apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the property either
belongs to an Insured or is where the Insured resides, the monetary
benefit arising from reduction in an insurance premium of the
Insured to cover a potential risk of loss.
12. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of fire damage arising from fire burning the
deadwood on the property because of spontaneous combustion of the
deadwood on the property prior to the clearing or from fires
spreading from adjacent property areas to the deadwood on the
property prior to the clearing.
13. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of the Insured contracting a disease that is
derived from insect infestation of the deadwood on the property
prior to the clearing.
14. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk to health of the Insured attributed in part to
exposure to organisms that reside on or in the deadwood prior to
the clearing.
15. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes a risk of fire damage or wind damage to a structure on the
property of the Insured that has intrinsic historical value where
the risk of fire damage is from combustion of the deadwood on the
property prior to the clearing and the risk of wind damage is from
breakage of the deadwood on the property falling on the structure
prior to the clearing.
16. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes breakage from trees falling that is in proximity to either
a property boundary with adjacent property or to a public
thoroughfare.
17. A method as in claim 11, wherein the potential risk of loss
includes risk of pollution from water runoff on the property,
wherein contaminants from the deadwood seep into the water
runoff.
18. An apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the benefit is derived
from purchase or sale of air rights over the property that may be
bought and sold with respect to satisfying an emission level of
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] Priority is claimed from provisional application serial No.
60/276,294, filed Apr. 26, 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to certification that wooded
property have only a volume of sickly and fallen trees that are
needed to ensure forest regeneration.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] A forest region, if left uncleansed of waste wood remnants
that arise from either natural forest destruction or leftover from
logging operations, may become sickly or increase the likelihood of
becoming a source for harmful environmental damage.
[0006] For instance, the following hazards may arise due to the
presence of an excessive amount of waste wood remnants on
property:
[0007] Fire, due to ignition of dry waste wood remnants during
times of little rainfall.
[0008] Bacteria and fungi growth that is environmentally harmful,
because such growth thrives on waste wood remnants in shady areas
such as within forests.
[0009] Water runoff pollution, which arises from rainwater runoff
across the surface of wood waste remnants that carry an pollutants
away into forest streams.
[0010] Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions given off from
the decay of waste wood over extended periods of time.
[0011] The latter is considered a form of air pollution that the
Kyoto protocol treaties imposed on signatories to reduce. Countries
with vast tracts of forests with a plentiful supply of waste wood
remnants are more at risk of exceeding permissible carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide emission from their territories that are
countries whose forests are more sparse or non-existent. The Kyoto
protocol treaties created clear air rights that can be bought or
sold. This clean air rights market tends to encourage those to
cleanse the air by offering incentives to lower carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide emissions and penalties for higher carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide emissions. The polluters may purchase clean air
rights from the non-polluters and thereby avoid penalties under the
Kyoto protocol treaties.
[0012] While the removal of waste wood remnants from forest regions
reduces each of the fore-mentioned hazards, some level of waste
wood remnants in forest regions is beneficial for forest
regeneration. That amount varies from forest region to forest
region, but is generally within a range of 8-12 percent of the
total biomass in the forest region. Any waste wood remnants that
are present in excess of what is needed for forest regeneration
increases the risk that the fore-mentioned hazards may arise
without any counterbalancing benefit to the environment (such as
promotion of forest regeneration).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The present invention is directed at using inspectors or an
inspection service to certify the cleanliness of a property with
respect to the amount of waste wood remnants (deadwood) that are
present relative to the amount of biomass present. The inspectors
issue proof of the certification of cleanliness to the owner or
resident of the property where the certification took place. Such
proof may be submitted so that the owner or resident of the
property receives a monetary benefit. Such a submission may be to
an insurance company, which may lower insurance premiums based on
the proof. Such a submission may be to consummate the purchase or
sale of air rights over the property that are in compliance with
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emission standards.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] Once a property is so certified for cleanliness without
having an excessive amount of deadwood relative to the biomass
present, its air rights may be bought and sold based on proof of
certification. Such would be in accord with the Kyoto protocol
treaties where air rights over property may be sold where it meets
the emission level of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide set forth
in the treaties. Such a sale of air rights would be a monetary
benefit to the owner or resident of the property.
[0015] The owner or resident should be insured for risk of loss
with an Insurance company. Such an Insured submits such proof of
such certification of cleanliness to their insurance company (or
the inspector or inspection service does on behalf of the Insured).
The Insurance company then reduces the insurance premium of the
Insured based on the proof. Thus, the owner or resident realizes a
monetary benefit in the form of a reduction of an insurance premium
to cover risk of loss.
[0016] Fire insurance companies may offer a discount on their fire
insurance policies to an Insured upon submission of proof of
certification that the property of the Insured has been certified
as clean of an excessive amount of deadwood. The reason is that the
property is cleared of excessive wood waste remnants that could
otherwise be a source of spontaneous combustion to spread fire on
the property or risk burning from the spread of fire on adjoining
property.
[0017] Such certification may also show that the property has an
insufficient amount of wood waste remnants to serve as a breeding
ground for insect infestation, water runoff pollution or an
excessive amount of harmful organisms such as bacteria and fungi
growth. Each of these, if left unchecked, poses a risk to the
health of persons residing in the vicinity of such insect
infestation, pollution, bacteria or fungi growth. Health insurance
companies may thus offer a reduction in their premiums for covering
health risks upon submission of proof of certification that the
property of the Insured is cleared of excessive wood waste
remnants.
[0018] Also, the certification may show the property is less
susceptible to the risk of wind damage, which may otherwise arise
from deadwood falling either onto structures on the property, such
as those having intrinsic historical value, or on adjacent property
or public thoroughfares (where the deadwood is near the boundary
with such adjacent property or public thoroughfares). Again, an
insurance company that insures the Insured for risk of loss from
wind damage may offer a discount or reduction in their insurance
premiums based on such certification.
[0019] The cleansing operation involves waste wood remnant removal
and, preferably, transformation of the waste wood into wood
charcoal or finished wood derived products. An inspector or
inspection service makes a determination as to the area of biomass
present on the property and the area of deadwood still remaining on
the property after cleansing of excessive wood waste. If the area
of deadwood still remaining is within a range of 8-12 percent of
the total biomass present on the property, the inspector may
certify the property as being sufficiently clean of excessive
deadwood. If the area exceeds such a range of 8-12 percent, then
further cleansing needs to be done because the amount of deadwood
is still excessive.
[0020] The determination may be made as follows. An inspector,
which may be a forest pathologist, surveys the property by dividing
it generally into groups of regions that have common types of tree
species. By examining sample areas within each of the different
regions, the inspector can apply his findings for the entire group
of regions containing like tree species. Thus, the inspector
determines the volume of healthy trees within a sample region and
the volume of sickly and fallen trees within the sample region
(multiple sample regions may be considered for this purpose). The
healthy biomass volume is computed for an average healthy tree
volume multiplied by the number of healthy trees in the sample
region, which average is computed by finding the average height and
diameter of all healthy trees within the sample region. The
unhealthy biomass volume is likewise computed but for sickly and
fallen trees. The inspector then factors in a natural destruction
rate of tree species for the region, generally between 2-3 percent,
and then determines the extent the unhealthy biomass volume of the
property exceeds 8-12 percent of the healthy biomass volume of the
property. To the extent there is excess, the inspector computes the
volume of excess and such excess sickly or fallen tree species is
cleared from the property. Once the excess is cleared off the
property, the inspector issues a certificate to the property
owner/resident or directly to an insurance company that insures the
owner/resident against potential risk of loss. The certificate
certifies that the property contains an acceptable volume of sickly
and fallen trees relative to the volume of healthy tree species to
satisfy what is needed for forest regeneration, but not an excess
of what would be so needed for forest regeneration. Clearing the
sickly and fallen trees may be done with conventional tree moving
equipment or dragged away and either carted to a site away from the
property or transformed with equipment on the property into a
useful wood derived product.
[0021] While the foregoing description represent the preferred
embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that
various changes and modifications may be made without departing
from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
* * * * *