A few tin cans and a penknife were all an 18-year-old Cork student needed to get started on inventing a revolutionary biomass-fired cooking stove for developing countries that secured the top prize at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.
Video of awards ceremony & stove – http://www.btyoungscientist.com/media/video.php?file_id=44
Now Richard O’Shea from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co Cork, wants to get these stoves to developing countries as quickly as possible and he’s working with charities like Trócaire and Concern to make it happen, he told Siliconrepublic.com Friday night.
His design makes it possible to build highly efficient, smoke-free stoves from items like tin cans. Every year, 2 billion people across the world rely on burning biomass materials like wood, dung and plants to cook their food.
All about help
Asked about how quickly he wants to bring his design to market, O’Shea said: “This is not about bringing it to market, this is not commercial, I just want to get this into the hands of the people who need it as soon as possible.”
He explained that every year thousands of people in the developing world who cook indoors in poorly ventilated homes die from smoke inhalation and his biomass-fired cooking stove could save lives.
“Richard received the prestigious honour for his pioneering work on the design of a biomass-fuelled cooking stove for use in developing countries,” explained Intel’s Leonard Hobbs, chief judge, technology.
“Over 2 billion people in the world depend on stoves to cook their meals every day, and his project built a new one which uses as little fuel as possible and which ideally produces no smoke.
“Richard made a strong impression on the judges with his detailed research into the chemical processes involved in burning timber, and with the various designs he came up with using very simple materials, such as tin cans and nails, which are very easy to find in third-world countries.
“An added bonus is that his stoves can be built using simple tools, such as a Swiss army knife. Richard impressed us with both his science knowledge and the engineering skill he showed in his construction work,” Hobbs said.
Source – http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14890/randd/bt-science-and-tech-winner
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Great article. See the actual awards video along with some footage of the tin can stove at http://www.btyoungscientist.com/media/video.php?file_id=44