Ashok Gadgil Explained

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Ashok Gadgil (born November 15, 1950, in Mumbai, India) Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley.[1] He is a Faculty Senior Scientist and has served as director of the Energy and Environmental Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Gadgil specializes in heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and technology design for development. He has substantial experience in technical, economic, and policy research on energy efficiency and its implementation - particularly in developing countries. Three of his best-known technologies for the developing-world are "UV Waterworks" (a simple, effective, and inexpensive disinfection system for drinking water), the "Berkeley-Darfur Stove" (a low-cost sheet-metal stove that saves fuelwood in internally displaced person's camps in Darfur), and ECAR (ElectroChemical Arsenic Removal) for removing arsenic from water.[2] Gadgil advocates for immediate and strategic action on the part of the research community to apply current scientific knowledge to address world-wide issues relating to climate change.[3]

Education

Gadgil holds a physics degree from the University of Mumbai, an M.Sc. in physics from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and an M.Sc. (1975) and Ph.D. (1979) in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing his Ph.D. he spent 5 years working for a non-profit in India before returning to Berkeley.[4]

Career

Gadgil Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley.[1] He also has been distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Gadgil is a faculty senior scientist, and former director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division[2] (2009–2015).[5] From 2012 to 2022, Gadgil was the faculty director of the Development Impact Lab at UC Berkeley. He has taught graduate courses at UC Berkeley since 2006[6] addressing topics such as “Design for Sustainable Communities,” and “Technology and Sustainability”.

Gadgil has served as editor of the journal Annual Review of Environment and Resources since 2009.[7] Gadgil and Paul Gertler were the founding editors of the Open Access journal Development Engineering, first published by Elsevier in 2016.[8] [9]

In 1998 and again in 2006, Gadgil was invited by the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation to speak at the National Museum of American History about his life and work.[10]

In September 2022, Springer published an Open Access graduate-level textbook Co-Edited by Gadgil, Introduction to Development Engineering: A Framework with Applications from the Field, freely downloadable from the Springer website.

Research

Gadgil led a group of about 20 researchers at LBNL conducting experimental and modeling research in indoor airflow and pollutant transport. Most of that work was focused on reducing indoor radon concentrations in individual houses,[11] and protecting office-building occupants from the threat of chemical and biological attacks.[12]

In early 1990s, he analyzed the potential for large utility-sponsored projects to promote energy efficient electric lighting in poor households in developing countries, then teamed up with others to design and demonstrate such projects. These have become commonplace in dozens of developing countries since 2000 onward, saving billions of dollars annually to their economies.[4]

In recent years, he has worked on ways to inexpensively remove arsenic from groundwater used for drinking, and clean-burning biomass stoves, including design, production, and dissemination of the improved cookstoves for Darfur (Sudan) refugees. Reducing the amount of fuel needed has helped to protect women from assault, for which they are at risk while foraging for fuel.

Gadgil has authored or co-authored at least 213 papers which are cited at least 3,805 times.[13] He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2013 for engineering solutions to the problems of potable water and energy in developing countries.

UV Waterworks

UV Waterworks uses the UV light emitted by a low-pressure mercury discharge (similar to that in a fluorescent lamp) to disinfect drinking water. Effective disinfection at affordable cost is the primary and most important feature of UV Waterworks—allowing an entire system (including costs of pumps, filters, tanks, housing-structure, consumables, and employee salaries for operation) to sell drinking water at about 2 cents US for 12 liters even in deep rural areas, where personal incomes are commonly less than $1 US per day.

This business model, developed and implemented by WaterHealth International, makes safe drinking water affordable and accessible to even poor communities in developing countries. it provided safe drinking water for 26-29 million people in India and Africa. For UV Waterworks, Gadgil received the Discover Award in 1996 for the most significant environmental invention of the year, as well as the Popular Science Award for "Best of What is New - 1996".[4]

Darfur Stoves Project

The Darfur Stoves Project seeks to protect Darfuri women by providing them with specially developed stoves which require less firewood, hence decreasing women’s exposure to violence while collecting firewood and their need to trade food rations for fuel. The stoves were developed with input from the women who would use them, enabling the designers to ensure that they would not tip over and that they would cook at an appropriate heat.[14]

The Darfur Stoves Project is the first initiative of the nonprofit organization, Potential Energy. Gadgil is a co-Founder and served as Board Chair of Potential Energy till 2015.[15] Potential Energy's mission is to adapt and scale technologies that improve lives in developing countries. The Darfur Stoves Project collaborates with international organizations such as Oxfam America[16] and the Sudanese organization, Sustainable Action Group (SAG). As of 2018, Potential Energy had distributed over 40,000 stoves to women in Darfur, Sudan. A single stove can last more than five years, saving 15-30% of a family's fuel costs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by two metric tons per year.

ECAR

ECAR (ElectroChemical Arsenic Removal) is a simple technology for removing arsenic from drinking water[2] with a low-voltage electric current and iron electrodes. ECAR purifies water above WHO standards at a cost of about 0.08 cents per liter, and was tested in the field in West Bengal in 2012. In 2013, it was licensed by an Indian water company for further development.[17]

Documentaries

Ashok Gadgil is featured in Irena Salina's feature documentary (2008)[18] [19] and Michael Apted's award-winning 1999 documentary Me and Isaac Newton.[20]

Awards (Selected List)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ashok Gadgil . Civil and Environmental Engineering . 28 July 2022.
  2. Web site: Ashok Gadgil . Curry Stone Foundation . 28 July 2022.
  3. News: Gadgil . Ashok . Tomich . Thomas . Failing to act on climate change is robbing future generations of choices . 29 July 2022 . Chicago Tribune . July 11, 2022.
  4. News: Ravven . Wallace . The search for smarter energy and water strategies Research UC Berkeley . 28 July 2022 . Berkeley News . April 25, 2016.
  5. News: Ashok Gadgil is the New Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division Energy Technology Area . 28 July 2022 . Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory . August 19, 2010.
  6. Book: Introduction to Development Engineering: A Framework with Applications from the Field. About the authors . 2022 . Springer . [S.l.] . 978-3-030-86064-6 .
  7. 10.1146/annurev.eg.34.101209.100011. Preface. Annual Review of Environment and Resources . 2009 . 34.
  8. Amrose . Susan . Bilton . Amy M. . Kramer . Berber . The future of development engineering - Our vision for the next generation of publications in DevEng . Development Engineering . 2021 . 6 . 100059 . 10.1016/j.deveng.2021.100059 . 234140743 . 29 July 2022. free .
  9. Web site: Editorial-Board. 26 January 2022.
  10. Web site: Smithsonian Lemelson Center . Podcast: Ashok Gadgil's Thirst to Save Lives, Part 1 (of 2) . Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation . 29 July 2022 . en . 10 May 2006.
  11. Web site: Ashok Gadgil . Sustainable Energy & Environmental Systems . 29 July 2022.
  12. Web site: Price . Phillip N. . Sohn . Michael D. . Gadgil . Ashok J. . Delp . William W. . Lorenzetti . David M. . Finlayson . Elizabeth U. . Thatcher . Tracy L. . Sextro . Richard G. . Derby . Elisabeth A. . Jarvis . Sondra A. . Protecting buildings from a biological or chemical attack: Actions to take before or during a release . en . 29 January 2003.
  13. Web site: Ashok J. Gadgil 213 Publications 4966 Citations Related Authors . SciSpace - Author . 29 July 2022 . en.
  14. News: Fresher cookers . 29 July 2022. 1–2 . Technology Quarterly . December 6, 2008.
  15. Web site: Potential Energy Annual Report 2012 . 29 July 2022.
  16. News: McCabe . Coco . With wood scarce in Darfur, a new stove promises good things for women and the environment . 29 July 2022 . Oxfam America . May 22, 2009.
  17. Book: Addy . Susan Amrose . Electrochemical arsenic remediation for rural Bangladesh . 1 January 2008 . Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States) . 10.2172/946461 . English.
  18. Marris . Emma . Water policy in the can . Nature . March 2008 . 452 . 7185 . 288 . 10.1038/452288a . 7299704 . en . 1476-4687. free .
  19. Web site: Flow: for love of water . Water Alternatives . 29 July 2022 . en-gb.
  20. Web site: Brussat . Frederic . Brussat . Mary Ann . Me and Isaac Newton Directed by Michael Apted Film Review . Spirituality & Practice . 29 July 2022 . en.
  21. Web site: BHARAT ASMITA AWARDS - 2024. MIT-WPU Bharat Asmita Awards. 24 March 2024.
  22. Web site: Berkeley Lab’s Ashok Gadgil Receives National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). 24 October 2023.
  23. Web site: Ashok Gadgil Recognized As 2023 R&D Leader of the Year. University of California, Berkeley, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 7 September 2023.
  24. Web site: Director's Awards 2023 Laureates. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) . 19 December 2023.
  25. Web site: Director's Awards. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) . 23 December 2022.
  26. Web site: Meet the 2022 Laureate . The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) . 22 July 2022.
  27. News: Patents for Humanity Recognizes Infant Warmer Energy Technology Area . 28 July 2022 . Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory . October 23, 2020.
  28. News: Testado . Justine . Twelve honorees join Curry Stone Social Design Circle for August 2017 . 28 July 2022 . Bustler . August 1, 2017 . Testado . en.
  29. News: Berkeley Lab Takes Home Five R&D 100 Awards for Environmental, Battery, and X-ray Technologies . 28 July 2022 . EIN News . 8 November 2016.
  30. News: R&D Awards for Energy Technologies Area Building Technology and Urban Systems Division . 28 July 2022 . Energy Technologies Area, Berkeley Lab . November 9, 2016.
  31. Web site: 2015 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award Recipient . American Physical Society . 28 July 2022 . en.
  32. Web site: Ashok Gadgil: A Legacy of Innovation . National Inventors Hall of Fame . 28 July 2022 . en.
  33. Web site: NIHF Inductee Ashok Gadgil Invented a Water Purification Device . National Inventors Hall of Fame . 28 July 2022 . en.
  34. News: Chen . Allan . Ashok Gadgil Inducted into National Inventor's Hall of Fame Energy Technology Area . 28 July 2022 . Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory . June 4, 2014.
  35. Web site: Prize Council Announces Winners for the 5th Award . 2012 . PSIPW Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water- جائزة الأمير سلطان بن عبد العزيز ا ئزة الأمير سلطان بن عبد العزيز العالمية للمياه . 29 July 2022.
  36. News: EETD's Ashok Gadgil Elected to National Academy of Engineering . 28 July 2022 . Today at Berkeley Lab . February 8, 2013.
  37. Web site: Past Laureates . The Tech Interactive . 29 July 2022 . en . 1 September 2015 . 3 February 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210203192012/https://www.thetech.org/tech-awards-presented-applied-materials/2015-laureates/past-laureates . dead .
  38. News: Dr. Ashok Gadgil . 28 July 2022 . Lemelson-MIT . 2012.
  39. Web site: Zayed Future Energy Prize Last Chance to Submit for the Zayed Future Energy Prize US$4 Million Prize Fund up for Grabs . RealWire. 29 July 2022 . 9 July 2012.
  40. Web site: Bringing clean water to the world's poorest regions . European Patent Office . 29 July 2022 . en.
  41. Web site: The 15th Heinz Awards, Ashok Gadgil profile. The Heinz Awards . 2009 . 29 July 2022.
  42. News: Ward . Logan . Efficient Cookstove Saves Refugee Lives in Sudan's Darfur Region . 29 July 2022 . Popular Mechanics . 1 October 2007.
  43. Web site: APS Fellow Archive. APS. 18 September 2020.
  44. News: Berkeley Lab Researchers Win Three Popular Science "Best of What's New" Awards - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Press release LegiStorm . 29 July 2022 . www.legistorm.com . November 12, 1996 . en.
  45. Web site: Ashok J. Gadgil, Ph.D.. The Pew Charitable Trusts. 15 July 2018.

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