AN INNOVATIVE three-in-one solution for providing clean energy from the sun has won this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment.
Meeting the needs of Himalayan villagers, SolSource has developed a lightweight, low-cost and portable solar cooker made from traditional nomadic tent material and locally sourced bamboo.
Modules, which can be detached from the cooker, also provide sources for heating and thermo-electricity generation.
At a ceremony in the University of St Andrews earlier this month, Catlin Powers, of SolSource, was presented with the winning prize of $75,000.
The St Andrews Prize is an environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews and ConocoPhillips.
It has attracted an astonishing array of entries and many of the technologies are making their mark in various parts of the world today.
Arguably the most remarkable from an energy and water resources perspective is the seawater greenhouse which, though it failed to attract the top prize a couple of years or so ago, ConocoPhillips has since been working with its inventor in the oilfields of New Mexico.
Sir Crispin Tickell, chairman of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment Trustees, said: “The prize is going from strength to strength.
“It is now in its 11th year and we are delighted that is has become so well established and continues to attract such a range of innovative projects from all over the world.
“We are looking for entrepreneurs on behalf of the environment – applicants able to champion original and innovative environmental ideas which they can show to be realistic and realisable and which take account of social and economic implications.”