Monday, August 30, 2010

Next X Prize: Clean Cooking Technology

Playa Vista-based X Prize Foundation, the nonprofit which is running a series of competitions to advance science and technology, has unveiled it latest prize under development: clean-burning cookstoves. The group said the new effort, which it is developing with the Government of India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, looks to spur the development of clean and efficient cookstove technology. The contest comes as a result of an estimated 70 percent of Indian households still using stoves that burn solid fuel--usually, wood or coal. That reliance on solid fuel results both in poor indoor air quality and smoke, which increases the risk of pneumonia, cataracts, and tuberculosis; but also contributes to climate change, according to the Foundation. No details on the prize, launch date, or guidelines have been announced yet. The new competition is part of the X Prize Foundation's Education & Global Development prize group.

---