Featured solar cooking projects

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#Redirect [[Most significant solar cooking projects]]

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The news items featured below demonstrate successful solar cooking projects, either by impacting a significant number of lives of people in need, finding new strategies to help with [[Promotion|solar cooking promotion]], developing new technologies for effectively [[cooking for large groups]], or by finding new ways to use solar cooking for [[income generation]].

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==2013==

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[[File:Solar_Circle_program_in_Tanzania,_1-10-13.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Solar Circle]] public service exchange program in [[Tanzania]]]].

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*'''Solar Circle uses barter system to distribute 3000 solar cookers in Tanzania''' - The NGO [[Solar Circle]] has learned many things from their solar cooking program in Masasi, southern [[Tanzania]]. People will use solar cookers if they are efficient and affordable, which is often a problem for subsistence farmers who are most in need of the cookers even when the cookers are heavily subsidized. However, they have also learned that people will work hard to earn a solar cooker. The group has created a bartering system with community leaders. The community chooses a service project and the beneficiaries organize and oversee the effort. Participants earn an solar oven for their involvement. So far, the program has distributed more than 3000 solar ovens, and built 40 houses for people who are sick, elderly, widowed, or disabled. Because the community chooses the project and beneficiary, there’s an eagerness to work together. Surrounding villages have heard of the cookers and the program, so spreading the word has been easy. They cannot keep up with demand. The barter program relies on external help with finances, but community service represents the same effort that of money earned in outside employment. Solar Circle values that effort, and raises what money it can from friends to expand the program.

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[[File:Solar_Cooking_in_China,_SHE_report_photo,_1-9-13.jpg|thumb|275px|Residents in northwestern [[China]] using their [[parabolic solar cooker]]]]

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*'''Large-scale use of solar cookers in northwestern China shows promise''' - [[Solar Household Energy]] has tracked the Chinese government's efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the region, because in rural [[China]] the predominant fuel for cooking and heating is usually coal. The government has utilized the carbon credit trading program of the [[Clean Development Mechanism]] to encourage investors to become involved, and results have proven to support a profitable business model. At this point, it is estimated over two million people are benefiting from receiving and using 500,000 [[parabolic solar cooker]]s. The thermal efficiency of the solar cookers averages 65% compared with 12.3% for traditional unimproved coal fires. It is estimated the solar cooker use has reduced emissions equivalent to taking 200,000 automobiles off the road. Manufactured at a unit cost of $44USD, the cookers are locally manufactured, require no externally sourced parts, and components are recyclable. For those who perceive solar cooking as happening only at a village level, this report confirms that solar cooking continues to grow as a valuable resource to significantly help reduce global carbon emissions. Read more details of the report at: [[Media:China-cdm_solar_cooking_project_paper(2013-01).pdf|Solar Cooking in China: A CDM Project]]

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==2012==

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[[File:KoZon_Mali_November_2012.jpg|right|200px]]

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*'''A successful Integrated Cooking project cooking in Ségou, Mali''' - In 2009, [[KoZon]], a Dutch NGO promoting solar cooking in the Sahel, and [[AFIMA]], a Malian NGO promoting the development of rural women, began a joint project in Ségou, a region of [[Mali]] where solar cookers had not been introduced. In five villages (Dioro, Babougou, Koila Bamanan, Kominé, Soké), they trained four groups of 25 women (selected by the village chiefs) in the practice of [[Integrated Cooking]]. They received kits containing: two [[CooKit]]s, to cook meals when the sun shines; a [[fuel-efficient woodstove]], for use when there’s no sun; and a [[heat-retention cooker]] to allow even more food to be cooked in the first two. In addition to a short hands-on training workshop, the project ensured that all participants were visited several times after the course to solve problems, and provide extra tips, and encouragement. In the final evaluation, in May 2012, external experts established that more than 80% of the participants--in some villages nearly 100%--used these technologies daily. As intended, they are now saving some 1,800 tons of fuel wood per year. The evaluators also found that many women appreciate having more free time each day, since they do not have to tend a fire when solar cooking or using the heat-retention cooker. They use their time for other activities including running small businesses. Buying less firewood also saves them a lot of money. It’s no surprise that the evaluators spoke of integrated cooking as a great means of relieving poverty!

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[[File:Golden_Temple,_Punjab,_India_3-19-12.jpg|250px|thumb|Golden Temple, Punjab, [[India]]]]

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*'''Solar cooking set to help preserve the Golden Temple in Punjab, India''' - To save the Golden Temple from the ill effects of pollution, the [http://www.peda.gov.in/eng/index.html Punjab Energy Development Agency] (PEDA) is developing a plan to prepare a daily meal of Langar dal with the help of a [[Scheffler Community Kitchen|solar steam cooking system]]. PEDA is the governmental agency promoting renewable energy within {{state|Punjab}}, [[India]]. To prepare Langar dal for 50,000 to 60,000 devotees daily at the Golden Temple requires one ton (909 kg) of dal to be cooked. A recent study has shown cooking dal with the help of steam will save at least 25 LPG cylinders per day and also reduce the effects of air pollution on the Golden Temple. PEDA chairman Manjeet Singh said that PEDA would bear the entire project cost.

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[[Image:Solar_Oven_Partners_March_2008_2.jpg|thumb|200px|Five {{state|South Dakota}} State University football players volunteered to help [[Haiti Solar Oven Partners]] load a container with 1000 unassembled solar box cookers destined for Haiti.]]

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*'''South Dakota, USA nonprofit has delivered thousands of solar cookers to Haiti''' - [[Haiti Solar Oven Partners]] passed a milestone this spring by delivering another 1000 solar cookers as part of the relief effort resulting from the 2010 earthquake. This brings the total number of cookers they have taken to [[Haiti]] to over 5000. They had begun having solar cooking workshops in the country before the earthquake and have since stepped up their efforts. Currently, they are conducting an evaluation of their Haiti projects.

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*'''Jewish World Watch provides substantial grant for the Farchana Refugee Camp''' - [[Jewish World Watch]] has provided a grant of $200,000 USD to the UK NGO [[Cord]] to provide [[CooKit]]s to refugees at the [[Farchana Refugee Camp]] in [[Chad]]. This new project brings the number of [[refugee camps]] where solar cooking projects are underway to ten. [http://goo.gl/p5g14 Read more...]

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==2011==

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*''' Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil reports a decade of success''' - [[Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil]] reports they have distributed more than 20,000 ecological appliances since 2000. From these 20,000, 14,000 have been solar cookers, mainly distributed in the South American countries of [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], [[Chile]], and [[Argentina]]. Additionally, 5,000 [[Rocket Stove]]s were distributed in the African countries of [[Benin]], [[Chad]], and [[Guinea]], as well as to the South American countries. Besides solar cookers and stoves, they have also provided [[Heat-retention cooking|fireless cookers]], [[Solar food drying|solar food dryers]] and solar showers. On November 5, 2011, the organization is sponsoring a national conference addressing deforestation in Africa to be held in their hometown of Nantes, [[France]]. [http://www.boliviainti-sudsoleil.org Registration and program information.]

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[[File:SHE_HotPot_in_Gaga_camp.jpg|thumb|290px|One of the fifty women who received [[SHE]] training with a [[HotPot]] cooker in [[Chad]]. Note that this model is 1/3 larger then the standard HotPot.]]

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*'''SHE actively promotes solar cooking in East Africa and Latin America''' - [[Solar Household Energy]] (SHE) was commissioned to test acceptance of the [[HotPot]] solar oven in the [[Gaga Refugee Camp]] in eastern [[Chad]]. It shelters 20,000 people from [[Darfur]] in Western [[Sudan]]. [[Patrick Fourrier]], a French solar cooking expert affiliated with [[Bolivia Inti Sud Soleil]], completed the first phase of the project last month. He will also ensure that local support systems set in place to encourage continued use of the solar ovens are working effectively. Meanwhile, SHE has begun a cooperative relationship with [[Grupo Jaragua]], a highly respected non-governmental organization in the [[Dominican Republic]], to support a solar cooking initiative. Grupo Jaragua is aided by a Dominican eco-tourism and solar cooking advocate [[El Fuego del Sol]], which conducts the local assembly and subsidized sale of [[Sun Oven]] box cookers in rural communities near the Haitian border. They are also supporting [[The Nature Conservancy]]’s office in the Dominican Republic to add the [[integrated cooking method]] as a component of their reforestation project in [[Haiti]], and working to expand the solar cooking promotion efforts it undertook in [[Mexico]] with the [[Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature]] (FMCN) begun in 2004. On the public education front, SHE founding director [[Dar Curtis]] is participating as a contributing member of the Technology and Fuels Working Group of the [[Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves]]. This alliance of governments, corporations and non-profits is promoting cleaner cooking solutions than the open cooking fires and inefficient cookstoves used by three billion people around the world. Read more in the [[Media:SHE_update_spring_2011.pdf|SHE spring update 2011]].

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==2010==

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[[File:Tirupati_solar_installation.jpg|thumb|300px|[[India]]'s richest temple, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, uses a solar-powered [[Scheffler Community Kitchen]] to feed tens of thousands of people every day.]]

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*'''Institutional solar cooking gains momentum in India''' - A [http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=68779 news release] from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in [[India]], reporting on important activities in 2010, states: Solar concentrating systems, comprising automatically tracked of parabolic dishes, have been found to be useful for generating steam to cook food for hundreds and thousands of people in community kitchens especially at religious places such as Shirdi, Mount Abu, Tirupati etc. The world’s largest system is functioning at Shirdi for cooking food for 20,000 people/day. These systems have found good applications for air conditioning and laundry also and a few demonstration plants have recently been installed. A total of around 80 concentrating systems of different capacities covering 25,000 sq.m. of dish area are functioning in the country, largely for cooking purpose. During 2010, 15 such systems were sanctioned covering a dish area of around 3000 sq.m. See [[Scheffler Community Kitchen]].

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[[File:Jose'_Andre's_photo.jpg|thumb|150px|Chef [[José Andrés]] Listen to a recent [http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=17843 interview].]]

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* '''Celebrity chef helps in Haiti''' - This past year [[José Andrés]], an internationally known chef and social activist, has been doing his part to help the people of [[Haiti]]. When he had lost power at his own home for a few days, following a severe snowstorm, he discovered the magic of solar cooking. He was amazed how efficiently a [[parabolic solar cooker]], which had been given to him and had sat unused, performed on a cold but cloudless day. In spring 2010 he was part of a team from [[Solar For Hope]], which headed to Haiti to help with earthquake relief. As part of their efforts they distributed [[parabolic solar cooker]]s and provided training. He feels the parabolic cooker is well-suited to prepare the traditional local fried food recipes. Andrés believes a pressurized cook pot is also a valuable asset to promote with solar cooking. It can shorten cooking times, and provide additional cooking, once the pot is removed from the oven. Listen to a recent [http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=17843 interview] with José about the project. Inspired by his initial experience in Haiti, José created the [[World Central Kitchen]], a foundation focused on feeding vulnerable people, supporting the local agricultural economy through local food purchases, and promoting nutritious foods, recipes, and environmentally sustainable cooking fuels and technologies. José is returning to Haiti, and the World Central Kitchen, in partnership with Grameen Creative Lab, is planning to build a commercial kitchen with the capacity to feed 10,000 people daily. The goal is to create a sustainable "social business" for the people that have the least. They plan to serve a nearby orphanage, school, hospital, and local residents. Solar cookers will be play a central role in the project.

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*'''The Solar Cooker Project helps to improve the lives of Darfur refugees.''' In May, 2006, [[Jewish World Watch]] began a partnership with [[Solar Cookers International]] (SCI) and the [[KoZon Foundation]] to expand access to solar cookers for Darfur refugees and improve the lives of over 4,000 families at [[Iridimi Refugee Camp]] in [[Chad]]. The project improves the safety and survival of women in the [[refugee camps]] and is run on the ground by the NGO Tchad Solaire ("Chad Sun"). Below is a recent video describing their efforts.

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[[Video:Solar Cooker Project for Women from Darfur|thumb|300px|right]]

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*'''Solar cooking "Avon Ladies" in Zambia''' - The [[Solar Health and Education Project]] (SHEP) began in 2007 to fund solar cooking workshops in rural areas of [[Zambia]], and also with the urban poor in the Livingstone area. The main goal of the workshops was to introduce solar cooking methods to the community in a sustainable fashion. Most at the workshop have little education, but are completely sold on harvesting the sun for their daily needs of cooking fuel. The team, with direction from [[Alison Curtis]], developed a system to appoint a local leader at the workshop to follow-up with a group of participants to help and encourage using the new cookers. Now, three years later, the solar team has ten excellent leaders who take turns spreading the solar news by setting up at shows, events, museum gatherings, school playgrounds, clinics and so on. These unschooled women leaders have learned to fill in a simple form, which SHEP developed with their input, so they have the knowledge to complete a request for funds themselves. The headmaster at the nursery school reads these requests and grants the money from SHEP to hold the demonstration or workshop. The women do the shopping, keep receipts, hold the event and then fill in a very basic report. They are paid for their workshop day @ $2.00 per event. The women are quite resourceful, as they have learned to make [[Cookit]]s from cartons and reflective Crisp wrappers found in the trash.

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[[File:PhotoE.jpg|thumb|ADES employs over 30 local trainers and carpenters in three communities, including carpenters hand-crafting wooden solar box cookers in Tulear (photo: ADES)]]

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*'''Long term investment in Madagascar has created a thriving solar cooking enterprise'''- The team of the [[Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire ]] (ADES) started its solar cooking program in [[Madagascar]] in 2001 with a small carpentry shop under a party tent, two motivated carpenters and an instructress. Today they operate six centers with manufacturing facilities, a new retail outlet in Antananarivo, the capital and a coordination center in Tuléar. ADES now employs 85 people, and has additionally created about 50 jobs in external enterprises. An average family of 20 people is living off the salary of one employee. Southwestern Madagascar experiences about 330 sunny days per year and is a nearly ideal region for solar cooking. Since they began their program they have taught the people of Madagascar to build and use more than 50,000 solar cookers, reducing local wood consumption by 65%.

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*'''Dedicated group of women in Nicaragua promote solar cooking over photovoltatics''' - The [[Solar Women of Totogalpa]] is the name of a cooperative made up of nineteen women and one man who are working to promote, produce and do research on renewable energy in the northern province of Madriz, [[Nicaragua]], for the sustainable development of the family and the community. They have been involved in their community for quite a while helping to promote energy production in areas with no traditional source of electricity. Early emphasis was primarily with photo voltaic solar panel installation. After some time, the women agreed that they thought the solar ovens were more a priority, as even with electricity, they were still cooking with wood stoves. Saving the forested areas and smoke elimination while cooking were deemed more important for community health.  [http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=359740&CategoryId=23558 Nicaraguans Swap Firewood and Fossil Fuels for Solar Energy] - ''Latin American Herald Tribune''

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[[Video:Shirdi - Solar Cooking for 100,000 - CNN.flv|right|300px]]

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*'''The world's largest solar cooking system was recently put into service''' - It is located in the holy town of Shirdi, [[India]]. Feeding the pilgrims that make an annual visit to the town has historically been done with conventional ovens, with recurring issues of fuel supply and air quality. Through the efforts and engineering of [[Deepak Gadhia]] and his wife, [[Shirin Gadhia]], they have brought this largest solar cooking installation constructed to date, to Shirdi. They began working on the design in Germany before bringing the technology to India. Deepak is a specialist in energy conservation and management, and Shirin has a doctorate in genetic engineering. They worked with the proven designs of of the [[Scheffler Community Kitchen|Scheffler parabolic solar oven]] as the basis for their system. The array incorporates seventy-three large parabolic dishes connected and coordinated with a tracking system to efficiently create the steam for cooking. Talking with CNN correspondent Mallika Kapur, Deepak said that "We soon realized what India needed was appropriate technology, not high technology". This region in India benefits from approximately 320 sunny days per year. During the monsoon season the existing boiler is used for cooking for the few days without sunshine.

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==2007==

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*'''30,000 parabolic solar cookers distributed in Indonesia with CDM funding to reduce kerosene consumption''' - Jakarta [[Indonesia]] officials plan to reduce kerosene consumption by distributing 30,000 parabolic solar cookers as part of a [[Clean Development Mechanism]] project, according to a recent Jakarta Post article by Adianto P. Simamora. The pilot phase of the project will take place in Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) regency, where sunshine is plentiful. As reported in the article, “Jakarta consumes about 2.7 million liters of kerosene a day. A family using one liter of kerosene per day emits two tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year.” Kerosene is available to consumers at a state-subsidized price of Rp. 2,000 per liter (about $0.22). “The solar cookers will be provided for free by German company EnerXi GMbh to support the city’s attempts to take part in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project,” writes Simamora. Through CDM projects, developing countries can earn Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) based on the resulting amount of CO2 reduction. (One CER is equivalent to one ton of CO2.) To help meet Kyoto Protocol targets, developed countries can then purchase CERs from developing countries. According to the article, the price of one CER is between $5-10.

[[Category:Browse]]

[[Category:Solar cooking promotion]]

Changes: Featured solar cooking projects

Revision as of 17:16, 5 April 2013

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+#Redirect [[Most significant solar cooking projects]]
-The news items featured below demonstrate successful solar cooking projects, either by impacting a significant number of lives of people in need, finding new strategies to help with [[Promotion|solar cooking promotion]], developing new technologies for effectively [[cooking for large groups]], or by finding new ways to use solar cooking for [[income generation]].
-==2013==
-[[File:Solar_Circle_program_in_Tanzania,_1-10-13.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Solar Circle]] public service exchange program in [[Tanzania]]]].
-*'''Solar Circle uses barter system to distribute 3000 solar cookers in Tanzania''' - The NGO [[Solar Circle]] has learned many things from their solar cooking program in Masasi, southern [[Tanzania]]. People will use solar cookers if they are efficient and affordable, which is often a problem for subsistence farmers who are most in need of the cookers even when the cookers are heavily subsidized. However, they have also learned that people will work hard to earn a solar cooker. The group has created a bartering system with community leaders. The community chooses a service project and the beneficiaries organize and oversee the effort. Participants earn an solar oven for their involvement. So far, the program has distributed more than 3000 solar ovens, and built 40 houses for people who are sick, elderly, widowed, or disabled. Because the community chooses the project and beneficiary, there’s an eagerness to work together. Surrounding villages have heard of the cookers and the program, so spreading the word has been easy. They cannot keep up with demand. The barter program relies on external help with finances, but community service represents the same effort that of money earned in outside employment. Solar Circle values that effort, and raises what money it can from friends to expand the program.
-[[File:Solar_Cooking_in_China,_SHE_report_photo,_1-9-13.jpg|thumb|275px|Residents in northwestern [[China]] using their [[parabolic solar cooker]]]]
-*'''Large-scale use of solar cookers in northwestern China shows promise''' - [[Solar Household Energy]] has tracked the Chinese government's efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the region, because in rural [[China]] the predominant fuel for cooking and heating is usually coal. The government has utilized the carbon credit trading program of the [[Clean Development Mechanism]] to encourage investors to become involved, and results have proven to support a profitable business model. At this point, it is estimated over two million people are benefiting from receiving and using 500,000 [[parabolic solar cooker]]s. The thermal efficiency of the solar cookers averages 65% compared with 12.3% for traditional unimproved coal fires. It is estimated the solar cooker use has reduced emissions equivalent to taking 200,000 automobiles off the road. Manufactured at a unit cost of $44USD, the cookers are locally manufactured, require no externally sourced parts, and components are recyclable. For those who perceive solar cooking as happening only at a village level, this report confirms that solar cooking continues to grow as a valuable resource to significantly help reduce global carbon emissions. Read more details of the report at: [[Media:China-cdm_solar_cooking_project_paper(2013-01).pdf|Solar Cooking in China: A CDM Project]]
-==2012==
-[[File:KoZon_Mali_November_2012.jpg|right|200px]]
-*'''A successful Integrated Cooking project cooking in Ségou, Mali''' - In 2009, [[KoZon]], a Dutch NGO promoting solar cooking in the Sahel, and [[AFIMA]], a Malian NGO promoting the development of rural women, began a joint project in Ségou, a region of [[Mali]] where solar cookers had not been introduced. In five villages (Dioro, Babougou, Koila Bamanan, Kominé, Soké), they trained four groups of 25 women (selected by the village chiefs) in the practice of [[Integrated Cooking]]. They received kits containing: two [[CooKit]]s, to cook meals when the sun shines; a [[fuel-efficient woodstove]], for use when there’s no sun; and a [[heat-retention cooker]] to allow even more food to be cooked in the first two. In addition to a short hands-on training workshop, the project ensured that all participants were visited several times after the course to solve problems, and provide extra tips, and encouragement. In the final evaluation, in May 2012, external experts established that more than 80% of the participants--in some villages nearly 100%--used these technologies daily. As intended, they are now saving some 1,800 tons of fuel wood per year. The evaluators also found that many women appreciate having more free time each day, since they do not have to tend a fire when solar cooking or using the heat-retention cooker. They use their time for other activities including running small businesses. Buying less firewood also saves them a lot of money. It’s no surprise that the evaluators spoke of integrated cooking as a great means of relieving poverty!
-[[File:Golden_Temple,_Punjab,_India_3-19-12.jpg|250px|thumb|Golden Temple, Punjab, [[India]]]]
-*'''Solar cooking set to help preserve the Golden Temple in Punjab, India''' - To save the Golden Temple from the ill effects of pollution, the [http://www.peda.gov.in/eng/index.html Punjab Energy Development Agency] (PEDA) is developing a plan to prepare a daily meal of Langar dal with the help of a [[Scheffler Community Kitchen|solar steam cooking system]]. PEDA is the governmental agency promoting renewable energy within {{state|Punjab}}, [[India]]. To prepare Langar dal for 50,000 to 60,000 devotees daily at the Golden Temple requires one ton (909 kg) of dal to be cooked. A recent study has shown cooking dal with the help of steam will save at least 25 LPG cylinders per day and also reduce the effects of air pollution on the Golden Temple. PEDA chairman Manjeet Singh said that PEDA would bear the entire project cost.
-[[Image:Solar_Oven_Partners_March_2008_2.jpg|thumb|200px|Five {{state|South Dakota}} State University football players volunteered to help [[Haiti Solar Oven Partners]] load a container with 1000 unassembled solar box cookers destined for Haiti.]]
-*'''South Dakota, USA nonprofit has delivered thousands of solar cookers to Haiti'''  - [[Haiti Solar Oven Partners]] passed a milestone this spring by delivering another 1000 solar cookers as part of the relief effort resulting from the 2010 earthquake. This brings the total number of cookers they have taken to [[Haiti]] to over 5000. They had begun having solar cooking workshops in the country before the earthquake and have since stepped up their efforts. Currently, they are conducting an evaluation of their Haiti projects.
-*'''Jewish World Watch provides substantial grant for the Farchana Refugee Camp''' - [[Jewish World Watch]] has provided a grant of $200,000 USD to the UK NGO [[Cord]] to provide [[CooKit]]s to refugees at the [[Farchana Refugee Camp]] in [[Chad]]. This new project brings the number of [[refugee camps]] where solar cooking projects are underway to ten. [http://goo.gl/p5g14 Read more...]
-==2011==
-*''' Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil reports a decade of success''' - [[Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil]] reports they have distributed more than 20,000 ecological appliances since 2000. From these 20,000, 14,000 have been solar cookers, mainly distributed in the South American countries of [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], [[Chile]], and [[Argentina]]. Additionally, 5,000 [[Rocket Stove]]s were distributed in the African countries of [[Benin]], [[Chad]], and [[Guinea]], as well as to the South American countries. Besides solar cookers and stoves, they have also provided [[Heat-retention cooking|fireless cookers]], [[Solar food drying|solar food dryers]] and solar showers. On November 5, 2011, the organization is sponsoring a national conference addressing deforestation in Africa to be held in their hometown of Nantes, [[France]]. [http://www.boliviainti-sudsoleil.org Registration and program information.]
-[[File:SHE_HotPot_in_Gaga_camp.jpg|thumb|290px|One of the fifty women who received [[SHE]] training with a [[HotPot]] cooker in [[Chad]]. Note that this model is 1/3 larger then the standard HotPot.]]
-*'''SHE actively promotes solar cooking in East Africa and Latin America''' - [[Solar Household Energy]] (SHE) was commissioned to test acceptance of the [[HotPot]] solar oven in the [[Gaga Refugee Camp]] in eastern [[Chad]]. It shelters 20,000 people from [[Darfur]] in Western [[Sudan]]. [[Patrick Fourrier]], a French solar cooking expert affiliated with [[Bolivia Inti Sud Soleil]], completed the first phase of the project last month. He will also ensure that local support systems set in place to encourage continued use of the solar ovens are working effectively. Meanwhile, SHE has begun a cooperative relationship with [[Grupo Jaragua]], a highly respected non-governmental organization in the [[Dominican Republic]], to support a solar cooking initiative. Grupo Jaragua is aided by a Dominican eco-tourism and solar cooking advocate [[El Fuego del Sol]], which conducts the local assembly and subsidized sale of [[Sun Oven]] box cookers in rural communities near the Haitian border. They are also supporting [[The Nature Conservancy]]’s office in the Dominican Republic to add the [[integrated cooking method]] as a component of their reforestation project in [[Haiti]], and working to expand the solar cooking promotion efforts it undertook in [[Mexico]] with the [[Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature]] (FMCN) begun in 2004. On the public education front, SHE founding director [[Dar Curtis]] is participating as a contributing member of the Technology and Fuels Working Group of the [[Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves]]. This alliance of governments, corporations and non-profits is promoting cleaner cooking solutions than the open cooking fires and inefficient cookstoves used by three billion people around the world. Read more in the [[Media:SHE_update_spring_2011.pdf|SHE spring update 2011]].
-==2010==
-[[File:Tirupati_solar_installation.jpg|thumb|300px|[[India]]'s richest temple, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, uses a solar-powered [[Scheffler Community Kitchen]] to feed tens of thousands of people every day.]]
-*'''Institutional solar cooking gains momentum in India''' - A [http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=68779 news release] from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in [[India]], reporting on important activities in 2010, states: Solar concentrating systems, comprising automatically tracked of parabolic dishes, have been found to be useful for generating steam to cook food for hundreds and thousands of people in community kitchens especially at religious places such as Shirdi, Mount Abu, Tirupati etc. The world’s largest system is functioning at Shirdi for cooking food for 20,000 people/day. These systems have found good applications for air conditioning and laundry also and a few demonstration plants have recently been installed. A total of around 80 concentrating systems of different capacities covering 25,000 sq.m. of dish area are functioning in the country, largely for cooking purpose. During 2010, 15 such systems were sanctioned covering a dish area of around 3000 sq.m. See [[Scheffler Community Kitchen]].
-[[File:Jose'_Andre's_photo.jpg|thumb|150px|Chef [[José Andrés]] Listen to a recent [http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=17843 interview].]]
-* '''Celebrity chef helps in Haiti''' - This past year [[José Andrés]], an internationally known chef and social activist, has been doing his part to help the people of [[Haiti]]. When he had lost power at his own home for a few days, following a severe snowstorm, he discovered the magic of solar cooking. He was amazed how efficiently a [[parabolic solar cooker]], which had been given to him and had sat unused, performed on a cold but cloudless day. In spring 2010 he was part of a team from [[Solar For Hope]], which headed to Haiti to help with earthquake relief. As part of their efforts they distributed [[parabolic solar cooker]]s and provided training. He feels the parabolic cooker is well-suited to prepare the traditional local fried food recipes. Andrés believes a pressurized cook pot is also a valuable asset to promote with solar cooking. It can shorten cooking times, and provide additional cooking, once the pot is removed from the oven. Listen to a recent [http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=17843 interview] with José about the project. Inspired by his initial experience in Haiti, José created the [[World Central Kitchen]], a foundation focused on feeding vulnerable people, supporting the local agricultural economy through local food purchases, and promoting nutritious foods, recipes, and environmentally sustainable cooking fuels and technologies. José is returning to Haiti, and the World Central Kitchen, in partnership with Grameen Creative Lab, is planning to build a commercial kitchen with the capacity to feed 10,000 people daily. The goal is to create a sustainable "social business" for the people that have the least. They plan to serve a nearby orphanage, school, hospital, and local residents. Solar cookers will be play a central role in the project.
-*'''The Solar Cooker Project helps to improve the lives of Darfur refugees.''' In May, 2006, [[Jewish World Watch]] began a partnership with [[Solar Cookers International]] (SCI) and the [[KoZon Foundation]] to expand access to solar cookers for Darfur refugees and improve the lives of over 4,000 families at [[Iridimi Refugee Camp]] in [[Chad]]. The project improves the safety and survival of women in the [[refugee camps]] and is run on the ground by the NGO Tchad Solaire ("Chad Sun"). Below is a recent video describing their efforts.
-[[Video:Solar Cooker Project for Women from Darfur|thumb|300px|right]]
-*'''Solar cooking "Avon Ladies" in Zambia''' - The [[Solar Health and Education Project]] (SHEP) began in 2007 to fund solar cooking workshops in rural areas of [[Zambia]], and also with the urban poor in the Livingstone area. The main goal of the workshops was to introduce solar cooking methods to the community in a sustainable fashion.  Most at the workshop have little education, but are completely sold on harvesting the sun for their daily needs of cooking fuel. The team, with direction from [[Alison Curtis]], developed a system to appoint a local leader at the workshop to follow-up with a group of participants to help and encourage using the new cookers. Now, three years later, the solar team has ten excellent leaders who take turns spreading the solar news by setting up at shows, events, museum gatherings, school playgrounds, clinics and so on. These unschooled women leaders have learned to fill in a simple form, which SHEP developed with their input, so they have the knowledge to complete a request for funds themselves. The headmaster at the nursery school reads these requests and grants the money from SHEP to hold the demonstration or workshop. The women do the shopping, keep receipts, hold the event and then fill in a very basic report. They are paid for their workshop day @ $2.00 per event. The women are quite resourceful, as they have learned to make [[Cookit]]s from cartons and reflective Crisp wrappers found in the trash.
-[[File:PhotoE.jpg|thumb|ADES employs over 30 local trainers and carpenters in three communities, including carpenters hand-crafting wooden solar box cookers in Tulear (photo: ADES)]]
-*'''Long term investment in Madagascar has created a thriving solar cooking enterprise'''- The team of the [[Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire ]] (ADES) started its solar cooking program in [[Madagascar]] in 2001 with a small carpentry shop under a party tent, two motivated carpenters and an instructress. Today they operate six centers with manufacturing facilities, a new retail outlet in Antananarivo, the capital and a coordination center in Tuléar. ADES now employs 85 people, and has additionally created about 50 jobs in external enterprises. An average family of 20 people is living off the salary of one employee. Southwestern Madagascar experiences about 330 sunny days per year and is a nearly ideal region for solar cooking. Since they began their program they have taught the people of Madagascar to build and use more than 50,000 solar cookers, reducing local wood consumption by 65%.
-*'''Dedicated group of women in Nicaragua promote solar cooking over photovoltatics''' - The [[Solar Women of Totogalpa]] is the name of a cooperative made up of nineteen women and one man who are working to promote, produce and do research on renewable energy in the northern province of Madriz, [[Nicaragua]], for the sustainable development of the family and the community. They have been involved in their community for quite a while helping to promote energy production in areas with no traditional source of electricity.  Early emphasis was primarily with photo voltaic solar panel installation.  After some time, the women agreed that they thought the solar ovens were more a priority, as even with electricity, they were still cooking with wood stoves.  Saving the forested areas and smoke elimination while cooking were deemed more important for community health.  &nbsp;[http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=359740&CategoryId=23558 Nicaraguans Swap Firewood and Fossil Fuels for Solar Energy] - ''Latin American Herald Tribune''
-[[Video:Shirdi - Solar Cooking for 100,000 - CNN.flv|right|300px]]
-*'''The world's largest solar cooking system was recently put into service''' -  It is located in the holy town of Shirdi, [[India]]. Feeding the pilgrims that make an annual visit to the town has historically been done with conventional ovens, with recurring issues of fuel supply and air quality. Through the efforts and engineering of [[Deepak Gadhia]] and his wife, [[Shirin Gadhia]], they have brought this largest solar cooking installation constructed to date, to Shirdi. They began working on the design in Germany before bringing the technology to India.  Deepak is a specialist in energy conservation and management, and Shirin has a doctorate in genetic engineering. They worked with the proven designs of of the [[Scheffler Community Kitchen|Scheffler parabolic solar oven]] as the basis for their system. The array incorporates seventy-three large parabolic dishes connected and coordinated with a tracking system to efficiently create the steam for cooking. Talking with CNN correspondent Mallika Kapur, Deepak said that "We soon realized what India needed was appropriate technology, not high technology". This region in India benefits from approximately 320 sunny days per year. During the monsoon season the existing boiler is used for cooking for the few days without sunshine.
-==2007==
-*'''30,000 parabolic solar cookers distributed in Indonesia with CDM funding to reduce kerosene consumption''' -  Jakarta [[Indonesia]] officials plan to reduce kerosene consumption by distributing 30,000 parabolic solar cookers as part of a [[Clean Development Mechanism]] project, according to a recent Jakarta Post article by Adianto P. Simamora. The pilot phase of the project will take place in Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) regency, where sunshine is plentiful. As reported in the article, “Jakarta consumes about 2.7 million liters of kerosene a day. A family using one liter of kerosene per day emits two tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year.” Kerosene is available to consumers at a state-subsidized price of Rp. 2,000 per liter (about $0.22). “The solar cookers will be provided for free by German company EnerXi GMbh to support the city’s attempts to take part in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project,” writes Simamora. Through CDM projects, developing countries can earn Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) based on the resulting amount of CO2 reduction. (One CER is equivalent to one ton of CO2.) To help meet Kyoto Protocol targets, developed countries can then purchase CERs from developing countries. According to the article, the price of one CER is between $5-10.
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 [[Category:Solar cooking promotion]]