Ecuador

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IECAIM solar cooking workshop

Events

See Calendar of events

News and Recent Developments

• November 2012: At the invitation of Solar Cookers International, Rodrigo Carpio of Fundación Inti Uma Ecuador built a "Minimum Solar Box Cooker" and exhibited it for the first time on Earth Day in 1990. Thus began the "Green Decade" (1990-2000) in Ecuador. We took the path of the sun and created the foundation INTI UMA, Quechua words that evoke, for our actions, the illumination of the mind in the warmth of the heart. We attended the International Congress of solar cookers SCI sponsored and organized in Cuenca, Ecuador and the Second Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1997. We have conducted 230 rural and community workshops to teach the making and using of solar cookers. We have taught students at the College Benigno Malo (approx. 5,000) and the University of Cuenca. We investigated appropriate designs equatorial sun oven Inti Churi (Son of the Sun), fruits and food dehydrator; Three in one hub - paraboloid - furnace, "Sunflower" hub; Oven José Sol, multi reflector, and recreation of the Solar CooKit. However, we have not developed self-sustaining projects due to lack of funding. In Ecuador LPG is subsidized, masking the real cost of cooking gas. The current petroleum bonanza in our country results in the inability of our government to understand the urgent need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.

The History of Solar Cooking in Ecuador

In Ecuador, solar cooking has had support from the government, largely through the involvement of representatives of a semi-official unit known as IECAIM, or the Ecuadorian Research Institute for Women's Training. The group was organized to serve as a focal point for the country in connection with the work of the United Nations agency called the International Research and Training Institute for the Promotion of Women (INSTRAW), a specialized agency focused on the issues of women. One of its areas of interest was the use of new and renewable forms of energy, which encompassed solar cooking and solar drying of foods. IECAIM took up that challenge and has been the most active promoter of solar cooking in Ecuador, under the leadership of its Director, Fabiola Cuvi Ortiz. IECAIM has been active since 1986 in providing training courses for women on building and using solar cookers. Workrooms were established for meetings and training courses. Initially, 300 solar cookers were built, mostly women themselves, who were also trained in the new mode of cooking. Both newspapers and television media were used to publicize the efforts and results of this work.

IECAIM solar cooking workshop

After the pilot efforts proved to be very successful, promotional activity was carried out in many places where women and girls congregate, schools, factories, and women's groups. In a situation of unrest (a border dispute with Peru), cookers were provided for the displaced families. In the course of this work, four small production industries have been started, building cookers to sell to others, with work done by women. In total, nearly 1,000 cookers have been disseminated in Ecuador. The Institute has also published two books, one on solar oven construction, and the other on cooking.

[Information for this section was taken originally from State of the Art of Solar Cooking by Dr. Barbara Knudson]

Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations

• Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables

Resources

Possible funders for solar cooking projects in Ecuador

• Fundación ESPOIR
• Fundacion D-MIRO Mision Alianza

Reports

• July 2006: New and Renewable Sources of Energy for Rural Women Decreases Rural Woman's Demand for Fuelwood and Initiated the Solar Cooking Industry - Dr. Fabiola Cuvi
• July 2006: Cookers for the Ecuatorian Sun - Rodrigo Carpio

Web pages

• Preguntas Frecuentes de la Cocción Solar

IECAIM solar cooking workshop

Grupo de discusión Facebook

• Cocinillas Solares sin Fronteras

Audio and video

• Dozens of Spanish-language videos showing solar cooking activities - TubeOli

Contacts

The entities listed below are either based in Ecuador, or have established solar cooking projects there:

SCI Associates

Main article: Solar Cookers International Association

NGOs

• Fundación Inti Uma Ecuador

Individuals

• Rodrigo Carpio