Submitted by Dr Nalin Patel on Fri, 17/05/2013 - 15:03
Prof Ashok Gadgil from Lawrence Berkeley Visits Cambridge to Talk about Energy and the Environment research and how Technology can make a difference to millions of lives of people in developing countries.
The Winton Programme was pleased to host the visit of Professor Ashok Gadgil from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Professor Gadgil is Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) at LBNL as well as Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. This was a tremendous opportunity for various people across University of Cambridge to hear and discuss with Professor Gadgil some of the research performed at Cambridge and Berkeley and the impact that innovation can make across the globe.
The EETD vision is “To be a global innovation hub for science, technology, and policy solutions to the world’s mots critical energy and environmental challenges”. The division which is the largest at LBNL, has ~ 600 researchers and has activities in three main areas, “Buildings and Urban Systems”, "Energy Analysis & Environmental Impact” and “Energy Storage and Distributed Resources". Professor Gadil presented a summary of the division and some research highlights in his talk at the Department of Engineering. Link to the slides can be found here - Research Overview of EETD.
Professor Gadgil has also been instrumental in using technology innovation to improve the lives of millions of people in developing countries. For his work he has won numerous awards including: the 5th Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (2013); the Zayed Future Energy Prize and the 2012 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation (2012); European Inventor Award (2011); the Heinz Award (2009); “Breakthrough Award” from Popular Mechanics for the Berkeley-Darfur Stove (2007). He described in his talk at the Cavendish two of these projects, and presented six key lessons he has learnt from his work. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is an inexpensive fuel-efficient biomass stove for displaced women and girls in Darfur, Sudan. The second technology, ECAR (Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation), affordably removes arsenic from groundwater supplies used for drinking water in Bangladesh and neighboring regions. Link to the slides from his talk can be found here - Innovating Technologies for the Poorest 2 Billion.