THE BUILDING of an innovative cooking stove designed for use in developing countries has won the top prize in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Cork student Richard O’Shea becomes the Young Scientist of 2010, taking home a trophy and a cheque for €5,000.
Richard (18) accepted his award last night at the RDS in Dublin from Minister of State for Science Conor Lenihan. “This is just incredible, I can’t take it in,” the shocked student admitted as cameras flashed and television microphones were thrust forward. “I just can’t describe it. I didn’t think I’d get that far.” When asked about the cash prize, Richard said he would likely give most of it to charity. “I didn’t enter to make money.”
Within minutes of receiving his award he phoned home with the news, admitting there was “screaming and shouting” at his success.
The sixth-year student from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co Cork, conducted an 18-month research project to design and build a highly efficient and near smoke-free cooking stove from waste materials, mainly tin cans. “I learned that half of the world’s population, three billion people, rely on biomass [wood, dung and plant material] to cook their food,” Richard said yesterday, describing the inspiration for his project.
“Open fires and simple tin can stoves are very inefficient and need a lot of wood and produce lots of smoke. The smoke is causing serious health effects.”
He used only tools and materials available to someone building a low-cost cooking stove – tin cans, a small knife, a screwdriver and a nail. His final design burns hot using no more than scraps of wood. “It produces a very small amount of smoke,” he added. “I was able to cook food inside a shed with the door closed.”
He would like aid agencies to copy his design and make its use widespread. Richard hopes to study energy engineering or environmental science after his Leaving Cert.
The best group project was on the design of “smart” safety glasses that won’t allow machinery to operate unless worn. The runner-up individual prize went to a student who developed a new way to produce “green rust”, used to take heavy metals out of drinking water, and the runner-up group was an analysis of how caffeine can interfere with digestion, raising the risk of cancer.