ASHOK GAGIL RESEARCH

Professor Gadgil’s major research at LBNL focuses on airflow and pollutant transport in buildings, and applications for protecting building occupants from chemical and biological agent threats.  He leads the Airflow and Pollutant Transport Group at LBNL, widely recognized for its world-class leadership in this area.  A significant long-term research effort, also at LBNL, addresses energy-efficiency and environmental problems in the U.S. and the developing countries.   Some specific examples follow:

o    In the early 1990, he identified, conceptualized and led the first effort for utility-sponsored market transformation for large scale introduction of compact fluorescent lamps in low- and mid-income residential customers in developing countries.  This approach is now widely accepted and continues to yield very impressive results in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.  See http://www.efficientlighting.net   for current applications and updates.

o    Dissatisfied with the ineffective, unaffordable, and/or poorly designed technical methods for drinking water disinfection for poor communities in the developing countries, he invented in the mid 1990s an elegantly simple and effective UV-disinfector, which now (2006) supplies safe drinking water to about 500,000 people.  The number is slated to increase rapidly in the coming years.  See: http://www.waterhealth.com  for recent progress.

o    In an effort to address the “largest mass poisoning in the history of mankind,” arsenic-laced drinking water in Bangladesh, he invented in early 2000s a method that aims to remove arsenic from water effectively affordably for the Bangladesh rural population.  Results so far are very promising.  This is still work is progress.

o    In response to a late 2004 request from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to investigate a technical solution to the high incidence of rape and mutilation of Darfur women refugees, he identified efficient cookstoves as a feasible approach (pending a political resolution of the underlaying problem).  Visited Darfur camps, led survey of fuel needs, and worked with a team of engineers and students to develop a stove design that uses about 75% less fuel, and pays of itself (in terms of cost of fuelwood saved) in about six weeks.  Pending field tests (in 2006) in Darfur, this stove design will be disseminated to thousands of refugee women.

RESEARCH ARTICLES OR WEBSITES

1. Survey and Analysis of cooking fuel consumption in Darfur Refugee camps.  March 2006.  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report LBNL-59540.  For report download and updates, visit: http://darfurstoves.lbl.gov

2. Fulkerson, W., M. D. Levine, J. Sinton and A. J. Gadgil, Sustainable, efficient electricity service for one billion people, Energy for Sustainable Development, 2005, IX (2), 26-34.

3. Craig, P. P., A. J. Gadgil, and J. G. Koomey, What can History Teach Us? A Retrospective Examination of Long-term Energy Forecasts for the U.S. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 2002. 27: p. 83-118.

4.Gadgil, A. J., G. M. Jannuzzi, E. Silva, and M.-L. Leonardi, A Cost-Neutral Energy Strategy Incorporating Renewables and Energy Efficiency for the City of Manaus in Brazilian Amazonia. Energy Policy, 1999. 27(6): p. 357-367.

5.Gadgil, A. J., Drinking Water in the Developing Countries. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 1998. 23: p. 253-286.

For an update about the field success of the UV water disinfector invention briefly described in the paper, visit: http://www.waterhealth.com

6.Gadgil, A. J. and M. A. Sastry, Stalled on the Road to the Market: Lessons from a Project Promoting Lighting Efficiency in India. Energy Policy, 1994. 22(2): p. 151-162.

And

Gadgil, A. J. and G. M. Jannuzzi, Conservation Potential of Compact Fluorescent Lamps in India and Brazil. Energy Policy, 1990. 19(5): p. 449-463.

For an update on what has become the standard practice of utility-sponsored market transformation in efficient lighting, visit: http://www.efficientlighting.net