Cooking up a storm of interest

05 December 2005

Rohan Geddes from Canberra Grammar School has won the two major awards in the national 2005 Sustainable Living Challenge, with his design for a solar cooker for disaster zones and developing countries.

He was presented with his prizes at a Sustainable Living Expo and Awards Day at the University of New South Wales, on Monday 5 December. The event was attended by more than 800 secondary school students from around Australia.

Rohan's innovative flat-packing design makes use of locally available materials. A standard tyre tube acts as an insulating ring. Perspex acts to heat the ambient air while foil retains the heat inside the cooker.

Rohan, 17, drew on direct experience of developing countries, having grown up in Ethiopia with missionary parents. Inspired by disasters such as the Asian tsunami, Rohan decided he wanted to build a viable cooker for about $20 a unit.

Architects without Frontiers has expressed interest in the design for projects in Sri Lanka while the Centre for Environment Education plans to field test it in India in tsunami-affected areas.

"Rohan demonstrates a thorough understanding of sustainability in a social, cultural and environmental context," said Ben Roche, co-ordinator of the Sustainable Living Challenge.

Ariah Park Central school, one of last year's category winners, has won the Sustainable Schools Eco-Initiative Award for its bush ingenuity. Last year, the school adapted a bicycle to create a pedal-powered heating system for schools which suffer climatic extremes. This year they adapted a car radiator for a water-powered classroom cooling system.

Other winners of the Sustainable Living Challenge are:

The Sustainable Living Challenge engages secondary teachers, students and their schools in the learning challenges presented by sustainable living. It is run by the Faculty of the Built Environment at UNSW in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme. It is one of Australia's key activities for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

Media contact: Mary O'Malley, 9385 2873, 043 888 1124, m.omalley@unsw.edu.au
Challenge organiser: Ben Roche, 0412 355 721, 9385 4916, b.roche@unsw.edu.au