Eco friendly outdoor heater scoops top prize

June 4, 2008

At the sixth annual Corus/Design Wales Eco Design Awards, held in Cardiff on May 13th, University of Glamorgan product design student Chris Kinder beat ten other shortlisted young designers with his eco-friendly concept for a solar-powered outdoor heater.

Run jointly by Corus and Design Wales, the competition invited entries from second year product design students from the University of Glamorgan, University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) and Swansea Metropolitan University.

The competition brief called for a consumer heating or cooling appliance that uses pre-finished steel and incorporated environmentally sound principles into its development. Students had to consider the product’s life cycle and its resulting impact on the environment, as well as energy consumption, alternative energy sources and raw materials.

At the Cardiff finals, Chris won the Most Innovative Design Award worth £500 for his two-and-a-half metre high solar-powered patio heater.

On the concept for his solar-powered patio heater, Kinder commented, “I started to think about current heaters that could be improved upon. This led me to remember gas patio heaters and how garden centres are stopping selling them due to their negative effects on the environment. I looked into patio heaters and noticed that the base was within its own heat footprint, causing it to lower the efficiency. This was the start of my original design as I moved the base of the unit out of the heat footprint, which gave me my shape.”

Solar panels on the back of the heater’s curved metal body generate electricity during the day. On cool evenings, the device can be switched on and ceramic plates radiate heat from the underside of the overhanging ‘arm’.

“It was a tight competition and the overall standard was high,” said Corus Colors’ Consumer Products Marketing Project Manager Mark Owens. “Eco-design is becoming increasingly important,” he added, “and Corus is committed to supporting excellence in design and working with designers to meet, exceed and pre-empt eco-design legislation.”

Richard Jenkins, senior product development engineer at ventilation manufacturer Nuaire, was impressed with the designs and “the way they were presented and the application of the steel,” he said. Chris used Corus pre-finished steel in his eco-friendly heater design.

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