Teoh's solar water heater, which was granted one of three international patents issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (under the Patent Cooperation Treaty) in 1997, out-performs the competition. It guarantees a water temperature of 60-78°C--as opposed to the previous 50-60°C ceiling--more than enough for an entire family of five to take two hot showers a day. Unlike other solar water heaters, it doesn't need an electric-powered backup, which on cloudy days can make operating costs skyrocket. And Teoh's model can be built using materials available at a local hardware store. Such simplicity allows the company Teoh has set up in his home, Microsolar Malaysia, to sell heaters for as little as $1,000. That's one-third the cost of a more technologically sophisticated solar model designed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Teoh's design not only produces hot water without burning fossil fuels, but it operates more cheaply than other solar models. In the first 10 years, his heater costs a family of five $100 annually, compared with $200 for a conventional solar unit with an electric booster and just under that for an all-electric model. "It works," says one of Microsolar Malaysia's 1,000 customers, Affendy Th'ng, a Kuala Lumpur sales executive. Affendy went solar to help the environment and to avoid buying individual electric heaters for his three bathrooms. He now enjoys "a substantial savings on my monthly bill."
More importantly, Teoh's innovation could unlock many more, including solar air-conditioners. Until now, finding an efficient way to use the sun's energy to cool air has eluded engineers because the water temperature must be maintained at an average 75°C in order to run existing solar air-conditioning models. Currently, five to eight panels are required to reach that temperature, far too cumbersome and costly for a typical roof, where Microsolar could potentially do it with two to four panels. Many air-conditioners now use a volatile gas like freon, which is known to contribute to global warming. So a freon-free model could be a boon for the environment, as well as an important new industry for Malaysia, already a major manufacturer of air-conditioners.
Though Teoh has gained international recognition for his stroke of solar engineering, he remains very much an architect, designing buildings throughout Asia. Microsolar Malaysia plans to franchise his low-cost water heaters to the developing world, beginning with Botswana this year. Nonetheless, Teoh rejects the notion that he is a hero. "I don't the like the word," says the inventor. "I just want to be somebody who makes a small contribution to the world." And if he is lucky, he may still have time to go trekking, although the demands of fame are making that increasingly difficult.
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