“When I first saw a solar cooker in 2008, I was fascinated by the technology and its applications. From my background as a physicist, I immediately understood how basic physics could help explain how solar cookers work to collect sunlight energy to cook food. And from my childhood memories from living in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where it was common to see women and children walking across baren rural areas to collect firewood, I envisioned how so many people living in sunny regions where firewood is scarce could benefit from solar cooking. Since 2008, I started solar cooking as much as possible on sunny days in New York, even on sunny winter days, to gain as much personal experience in solar cooking as possible. One of my delights from promoting solar cooking at Solar Cookers International is seeing people taste solar cooked food for the first time and then react with smiles, amazement, approval, and wanting more.”
Alan Bigelow, Ph.D. joined Solar Cookers International (SCI) in 2016. He is SCI's Program and Science Director, and his roles span SCI’s focal areas in research, advocacy, and strengthening the capacity for solar cooking. Alan leads SCI’s Performance Evaluation Process (PEP) solar cooker testing program, which aligns with international standards and methods for measuring cookstove performance. He is SCI’s representative to the technical committee developing methods for clean cookstoves at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). With SCI colleagues, he co-authored peer-reviewed publications about SCI’s PEP methods for measuring standard cooking power and efficiency for solar cookers.
Additionally, Alan spearheads SCI advocacy efforts at the United Nations climate change conferences (COPs) and at high-level events such as the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Alan also drives SCI’s ongoing collaborative solar cooking initiative at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, and led SCI’s consultancy role for a solar-thermal technology (cooking and solar drying) initiative in Yemen to improve resilience and livelihoods. He also oversees SCI best practices in monitoring and evaluation to collect evidence-based results during program implementation and follow-up.
Prior to joining SCI, Alan had a 15-year physics research career at Columbia University Medical Center developing innovative technology for radiation-biology studies. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and is listed as an inventor on patents for safe sterilization methods that use a specific range of ultraviolet light, far-UVC light, to selectively damage bacteria and viruses while not harming human cells.
Alan received a Ph.D. in Physics in 2000. He is a Climate Reality Leader trained by former Vice President Al Gore. Alan’s expertise includes designing and using off-grid solar photovoltaic systems. He is an accomplished musician and co-founded a solar-powered, eco-rock band that combined science and music to raise awareness and educate about environmental issues and solutions. His passion for solar cooking has taken him as far as Nepal, where he joined a nine-day high-altitude solar expedition in which all meals were prepared using portable solar cookers. He designed solar-energy workshops as a Scientist-in-Residence at the Hudson River Museum and introduced solar cooking to students through a course on sustainable engineering he designed and taught at Columbia University’s Science Honors Program.
Alan’s passion for solar cooking stems from his background in physics, his international upbringing, and his deep concerns for the welfare of our shared planet and all cohabiting it. He enjoys solar cooking vegetables from his organic garden, as a farm-to-solar cooker-to-table sustainable living practice, and using solar ovens as solar dryers to preserve home-grown tomatoes and Thai hot chili peppers. At SCI, he values teamwork and collaboration and how SCI’s mission dovetails with his personal convictions about solar cooking and his drive to further the global solar cooking movement.