Two recent technology innovations could improve the lives of tens-possibly hundreds-of millions of people among the poorest two billion people on the planet. Both technologies have emerged in the last few years from focused, goal-driven research by teams of creative, hard-working researchers in the Gadgil laboratory and in the field. The first technology innovation is the Berkeley-Darfur Stove, which is an inexpensive, fuel-efficient biomass stove for use by displaced women and girls in Darfur, Sudan. The second innovation is Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR), which affordably removes arsenic from the groundwater supplies used for drinking water in Bangladesh and neighboring regions. Dr. Gadgil will close with the six key lessons learned from his work in technology innovation.
Dr. Ashok Gadgil is Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. He has substantial experience in technical, economic, and policy research on energy efficiency and its implementation particularly in developing countries. He has several patents and inventions to his credit.