Here Comes the Sun: GoSol.solar and the Autodesk Foundation Working Together

Pictured: Urs Riggenbach, Chief Information Officer, Switzerland and Will Cleaver, Chief Design Officer, UK
image courtesy of Keith Chamberlain at Autodesk

Autodesk has always been an automation company, and today more than ever that means helping people make more things, better things, with less; more and better in terms of increasing efficiency, performance, quality, and innovation; less in terms of time, resources, and negative impacts (e.g., social, environmental). The Autodesk Foundation believes that design can change the world and supports the design and creation of innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges. They work with companies and nonprofits around the world with similar interests.

GoSol.solar wants to eradicate energy poverty and minimize the damage of climate change by breaking down the barriers to solar energy access. GoSol.solar’s eco-system aims to connect communities, entrepreneurs, and makers with the world's most powerful energy source — the sun. With this in mind, all of the tools and materials needed to implement GoSol.solar’s technologies are already produced and stocked en masse around the world.

As an alternative to using fossil fuels, there are different approaches to harnessing solar energy:

Based on these pros and cons, GoSol.solar has adopted direct solar energy. They have chosen to apply this approach in the design and fabrication of a solar oven and roaster that allows entrepreneurs to bake and roast cleanly and inexpensively since fossil fuels and their associated costs are eliminated.

image courtesy of GoSol.solar

SOL5 Solar Oven — image courtesy of Keith Chamberlain at Autodesk

SOL5 Fabrication at Autodesk Pier 9 — image courtesy of Keith Chamberlain at Autodesk

The GoSol.solar SOL5 Solar Oven:

• Bakes 7kg of bread in 45 minutes.
• Roasts 20kg of peanuts in 3 hours.
• Dehydrates 20kg of Tomato in 8 hours.
• Requires only direct sunlight, no fuel.

In addition to what it offers as an oven, a key aspect of GoSol.solar's design is that the oven features a quick install. This allows recipients to get up and cooking quickly with GoSol.solar technology. This is critical for organizations who want to respond to emergency situations where the ovens are part of a relief response. In addition, it also allows GoSol.solar to get their technology into the hands of entrepreneurial partners quickly so that their combined efforts can be multiplied to address eradicating poverty and improving the environment.

In 2017, GoSol.solar was one of the first partners in the Autodesk Foundation's Impact Residency Program:

Accelerating Change: Autodesk Impact Residency from Pier 9 on Vimeo.

The Autodesk Foundation has renewed their grant support to support GoSol.solar's mission to bring solar thermal energy to entrepreneurs in the developing world that currently are mostly burning charcoal and firewood to power their businesses. All told, the foundation supports GolSol.solar through the Pier 9 residency, grant support, training, pro-bono employee impact program. In addition, Autodesk had GoSol.solar present their solution at the most recent Near Future Summit (which Autodesk sponsors). The next summit will be in May 2019. Autodesk and the Autodesk Foundation are happy to support the efforts of GoSol.solar to make people’s lives richer, breathe easier, and make the environment cleaner.

The business of cooking and baking is alive in the lab.