BG Sustainable Development Award for innovative solar cooker

David Notzon's work - supervised by MER Dr Andreas Schueler of the EPFL Solar Energy and Building Physics Lab - aimed to address the multiple problems arising from the use of fire wood for cooking in rural regions and refugee camps across Uganda. Various designs of solar cookers exist. However, for the technology to be adopted in rural communities, the first condition is that they are cheap and simple to build with local materials. David investigated different technical solutions for a solar box cooker suited to the particular conditions of Uganda, as well as further developments and social challenges that need to be met if the technology is to take hold in the country. In this he collaborated with researchers of the department of physics at University of Makerere.