L`arte d`arrangiarsi — the art of making something out of nothing, is what 48-year-old Ilonggo Professor Alexis Belonio has mastered. Using Asia’s most abundant agricultural waste, Belonio invented a clean efficient biomass gas stove fuelled by rice husks, a feat deemed impossible by other scientists. The benefits of this invention to the Philippines’ poor are not only immediate but infinite, awakening hope for the millions looking for a viable solution to help them through the devastating economic crisis.

The world produces over 115 metric tonnes of rice husks each year and the Philippines – as one of the major rice-dependent countries – contributes immensely to this number, reports Belonio, the first Filipino to receive the Rolex Awards for Enterprise for his invention.

Numerous scientists had already thought of utilizing these abundant wastes before, but the flames produced from their prototypes were sooty, unhealthy, and could not generate enough heat to cook food. On the other hand, Belonio – an associate professor at the Central Philippine University of Iloilo City – came up with the idea to convert rice husks into gas after attending a technical workshop on wood gasification in Thailand. He wanted the flame that would be produced to be hotter and cleaner for cooking.

By a stroke of luck or sheer genius, Belonio’s first attempt at a top-lit, updraft, and biomass gas stove was a success. “I didn’t know why and how it worked, I just knew that it was successful because of the flame it emitted — it was blue!” tells Belonio, letting out a boisterous laugh bigger than his small frame, his eyes crinkling with boyish glee.