Mexico

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1 News and Recent Developments
2 The History of Solar Cooking in Mexico
3 Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations
4 Documents
5 Contacts
6 See Also

[edit] News and Recent Developments

April 2007: El Sudcaliforniano newspaper of La Paz recently reported on a small solar cooking project started by Mercedes Gorrete Solis Lucero, a local biochemical engineer. Thus far, 20 demonstration solar cookers have been constructed -- eight parabolic-type, six box-type and six panel-type. The purpose of the project is to make solar thermal technology available to the community at low cost while contributing to an ecological culture. The state of Baja California Sur enjoys more than 260 sunny days per year, suffers from scarcity of firewood and is home to people who tend to put new technologies into practice, the newspaper says. Gorrete Solis Lucero demonstrates the cookers at events such as the state government’s women’s exposition She says most people become interested, show enthusiasm and ask questions, and she has a special method for dealing with doubts. “I make pastries,” she says.

January 2007: The International Relations Center, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide information and analysis that increase social and economic justice throughout the world, recently cited the HotPot as an example of an effective solar cooker that is both produced and sold in Mexican communities. Mexico is currently working to structure a national training program to help individuals understand the utility of solar and wind power in cost effectiveness for health and the environment. Read more here.

August 2006: Learning together on the Mexican border
March 2006: One thousand Mexican families buy solar cookers
March 2006: Kathy Dahl-Bredine, who works with the Nino a Nino organization, reports that solar cooking is taking hold in the state of Oaxaca. She gave nine workshops in her first year and helped about 150 people learn to make and use solar cookers. In the workshops, new solar cooking students are given homework — to teach others how to make and use a CooKit-style solar panel cooker. Ms. Dahl-Bredine reports that many of her students have done their homework and taught others. She has also taught solar cooking skills to Indian development promoters who are spreading the idea to many other families. She writes, “It sounds like a great many of the cookers are getting used. … One woman I work with said, ‘Now I know that I don’t have to worry about whether I’ve turned the beans off when I leave the house, because if they are in the solar cooker, I know they are fine.’ … One woman I know here in Oaxaca City told me about a certain dish she makes, a particular chicken enchilada, that her 10-year-old son never especially liked, but the first time she made it in her solar cooker … her son said, ‘Wow, this is delicious. What makes it so different?’” Ms. Dahl-Bredine reports that the major motivation for using the solar cookers is that people have little income, and benefit from reduced fuel costs. The CooKit-type solar cooker is practical because it is inexpensive and can be made by the families themselves. She emphasizes follow-up visits with new learners, because people don’t always get everything they need to know from one workshop. When people are learning, she says, “you want all the conditions to be right to succeed at first.” After people have some experience, they can try more challenging cooking problems. She believes that experienced solar cooks can use their solar cookers most days even during Oaxaca’s rainy season, by starting early in the day and planning carefully.

[edit] The History of Solar Cooking in Mexico

A substantial amount of solar cooking activity has been instituted in Mexico under a wide range of auspices, almost certainly more than can be described here. Girl Scout leader Barby Pulliam has conducted training programs for Girl Scout leaders and other representatives of NGOs in a number of cities and towns. Rotarian Wilfred Pimentel has also conducted a number of pilot programs in various cities. In some of those places, Rotary and Girl Scouts joined forces. A number of missions and other religious groups have promoted solar cookers in various parts of the country. One example is the Mission Mazahua, in Atlacomulco, which has produced around 600 cookers. Several university faculty members have conducted research on cooking devices, as well.

Currently, a large project is underway in an unusual venue, a nature conservancy area, the Sierra Gorda Nature Reserve. In the spring of 2003, Louise Meyer of Solar Household Energy, Inc. (SHE, Inc.) conducted a training program to test user acceptance of a new solar device called the HotPot. The device uses a modified CooKit design, initially of a plastic material rather than cardboard, and later metal. The black pot is enclosed within a tempered glass "greenhouse" instead of the plastic bag used in the original CooKit.

The Director of the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, [[Lorenzo Rosenzweig]], has partnered with SHE, Inc. in planning and implementation of the project.

Within the confines of nature conservancies in Mexico, as elsewhere, trees cannot be cut down for use as fuelwood. Households living within the area thus must find other sources of energy for cooking. Therefore, the managing group of the Sierra Gorda site, the Grupo Ecologico de Sierra Gorda, was delighted to explore the potential of solar cooking. The town of Purisima and a village, Mavi, were selected as the site for the initial training program.

Ms. Meyer traveled to Mexico in May, and conducted training for Sierra Gorda women, who were given HotPots and trained in their use over a two-day period. After the training, Ms. Meyer visited the women in their homes as follow-up for days of further training and coaching. The women were all interested in what others were cooking, and eventually a throng of cooks accompanied Ms. Meyer on most visits, enhancing the group learning substantially. Two women from the group were chosen for additional training in "how to teach others". The new trainers were again visited and coached in the art of training.

This pilot project, growing into a large scale follow up in other areas of Mexico, was among the winners of the 2003 Development Marketplace competition, held annually by the World Bank. The award of funds to SHE, Inc. in collaboration with the Fondo Mexicano will permit faster dissemination of the new Hotpot in this area and perhaps in other parts of South America. Reports on this activity will become available later in 2004 on the SHE, Inc. web site (she-inc.org). The Sun Oven Organization, an offshoot of Sun Ovens International, is also working in Mexico, though its main offices for the area are in Europe. They report promoting both Sun Ovens and Sheffler type parabolics in Cuernavaca and Mexico City (http://info@sunoven.de>) The parabolic portion of this work, conducted by the Grupo Scheffler de Mexico installs large commercial and institutional cooking and water heating.

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

[edit] Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations

Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country with over 100 million inhabitants. One-quarter of the population lives in Mexico City, the world’s largest city. Rapid population growth and industrialization in Mexico over the last few decades have put an enormous strain on the environment, economy and on individual health.

Less than 10% of Mexico’s native tropical rainforests remain today. These rainforests are limited to southeastern Mexico and are most threatened by subsistence activities—especially fuel wood collection. Fuel wood supplies 69% of the energy consumption in rural areas, particularly for cooking. As the supply of wood decreases it negatively impacts the lives of the people who depend on it.

For instance, women and girls are responsible for procuring fuel wood and they must travel farther from home as wood becomes more scarce. This task demands many hours and minimizes opportunities to attend school and participate in income-generating activities. In other areas, it is no longer feasible to gather wood. Families in these areas can spend 15% to 37% of their income on wood and/or gas.

In addition to the negative environmental and economic impact of fuel wood dependence, women and children suffer from health problems caused by cooking inside small, enclosed kitchens that often lack windows or other ventilation. Women and children inhale toxic smoke for many hours each day which can lead to pneumonia and respiratory infections, the biggest killers of children under five years of age.