Advanced Affordable Solar Water Heater

The Advanced Affordable Solar Water Heater team is developing a solar water heater for use in Guatemalan households. By reducing the need for traditional energy sources, solar water heating can reduce energy costs for Guatemalan households and reduce global environmental impacts from unsustainable biomass and fossil fuel consumption. Partnering with a development infrastructure non-governmental organization (NGO) in Guatemala, the group will produce an implementation plan that will allow the NGO to manufacture these heaters locally, providing jobs to local community members. The team is an interdisciplinary group of eight current and former graduate students at UC-Berkeley, supported by several professors and engineers with backgrounds in technology development and business ventures in developing countries. By developing a product and implementation plan that is easily replicable throughout the developing world, this project has the potential to have an enormous impact on low-income households and the global environment.

Project mission:

Develop an affordable solar hot water heater to be used in the developing World to improve hygiene and the standards of living.

Potential impact:

This sustainable device has the potential to reduce disease, save money and reduce pollution

Required resources:

1. Total project needs: $20,000
2. Other:

   This project was a winner in the 2008 Bears Breaking Boundaries/Energy and Environmental Innovation contest.

News:

• http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/04/solar.heat.houses/index.html

Links to other projects by the same organization:

• http://www.aidg.org/education/ucb_solarhotwater.htm