Page 249 - ISES SWC50

Paul Funk
Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1991
Title of Research: Analysis of a solar box cooker for East Africa
University: University of Minnesota
Still Active in Research: Yes

Paul Funk has been an ardent researcher and solar cook for over thirty years. Dr. Funk realized firsthand the need
for alternatives to cooking over open fires when he saw women in Tanzania spending 20 hours a week collecting
firewood. The experience compelled him to change his master’s thesis topic at the University of Minnesota to
solar cooking. He continued solar cooking research for his doctorate in Agricultural Engineering at the University
of Arizona. His dissertation work eventually led to the development of the international standard “Testing and
Reporting Solar Cooker Performance,” published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
(ASABE). Paul served on Solar Cookers International’s (SCI) Board of Directors from 2000 to 2002, advocating for
the harnessing of free solar thermal energy. Dr. Funk has published numerous peer reviewed journal articles and
presented papers at many international conferences. Dr. Funk also designs solar cookers. ASABE is recognized
worldwide for developing voluntary standards for food, agricultural, and biological systems. In 2013, it replaced
its solar cooker testing standard with Dr. Funk’s “Testing and Reporting Solar Cooker Performance” standard. The
standard promotes uniformity and consistency in the terms and units used to describe, test, rate, and evaluate solar
cookers. Dr. Funk’s international test standard allows people to test solar cookers with inexpensive tools in remote
locations. Dr. Funk spent three months in a rural village living in a mud hut, so he appreciates that test conditions
may not be supported with urban infrastructure or utilities. This standard is now a part of the standards produced
by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions. SCI
has automated the standard in its Performance Evaluation Process, which has brought Dr. Funk’s work into the
forefront of providing accountability to the solar cooking sector.

Oliver Hartley
Country: Australia
Year Started Research: 1994
Title of Research: Electrochemical Solar Cells
University: Hahn-Meitner-Institute, Berlin, Germany
Still Active in Research: No

In 1994, Oliver Hartley started out as a research assistant with Prof. Lewerenz at the Hahn-Meitner Institute (now
part of the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin), Germany. His initial work was to create technical drawings on the physics
of solar cells for the book “Photovoltaik” by H.J. Lewerenz and H. Jungblut, published in German in 1995. His first
research work in 1994/95 as part of his Masters Thesis was on electrochemical solar cells and electrochemical
modification of silicon surfaces for solar cells followed by first publications in 1996. In parallel, Oliver was part of
a team of authors of a study called: “Sustainable energy supply in 2020: A critical survey of energy scenarios for
Germany” which was presented in 1996 at the International Congress of Engineers and Scientists: “Challenges of
Sustainable Development”, Amsterdam (Aug. 1996) and then published in the magazine “Solarzeitalter” 1/1997.
After this initial work he joined Prof. Martin Green at the University of New South Wales to carry out his PhD research
on silicon thin-film solar cell technology between 1997 and 2000. Finally, Oliver was responsible in running the
mono-crystalline high-efficiency silicon cell research at BP Solar in the UK until BP shut its European Technology
Centre for solar cell research in 2003. At that stage he said goodbye to research, and moved over into the business
world of the solar industry. Over the years, he has been responsible for the commercialisation of various thin-film
solar technologies, M&A activities in the solar energy space, business development and finally entrepreneurship
in the solar industry when he founded Epho Pty Ltd in 2014 to provide solar power solutions for commercial and
industrial clients across Australia. It is now that Oliver has come full circle and focuses his efforts more on R&D again
to develop solutions for solar energy integration into Australia’s national electricity market.

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