North Korea

Español, Ελληνικά, Français, German, Hausa, Igbo, Indonesian, Italiano, Kiswahili, Kreyòl, Malagasy, Melayu, Português, Rусский, Soomaaliga, Tagalog, Việt, Türkçe, Yorùbá, தமிழ், नेपाली, 中文, اردو, 한국어, 日本語, العربية, فارسی, עִברִית, हिन्दी, ไทย, বাংলা, తెలుగు, ગુજરાતી, ລາວ, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, සිංහල, پښتو

Last edited: 9 June 2008

Featured international events

• 4-6 June 2024 (Bridgetown, Barbados): Sustainable Energy for All Global Forum - The event will be co-hosted by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the government of Barbados. It is a platform for government, business and finance leaders, entrepreneurs, and youth and community representatives from around the world to come together to broker new partnerships, spur new investment, and address challenges at the nexus of energy, climate, and development. More information...

Online events

• NEW: Thursday, 18 April 2024 (2:30pm-3:15pm EDT), (Washington, D.C., USA): ESMAP Spring Meetings Knowledge Café: Clean Cooking at the Heart of Energy Access - Join ESMAP for this exciting knowledge-sharing opportunity, which will showcase the role of clean cooking as a key part of energy access and energy transition. Presentations by René van Hell, Director of Inclusive Growth, Ministry of Foreign Affair, Netherlands, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella Chairman, Presidential Initiative on Climate, Renewable Energy and Food Security, Sierra Leone, and Chandrasekar Govindarajalu, Practice Manager, ESMAP, World Bank. In-person attendance at World Bank Atrium, MC Front Lobby is for Spring Meetings registrants only. However, you can watch the event online

Requests for proposal

• Decentralized Renewable Energy Solutions utilizing Solar and Bio-Energy - Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments of ScienceDirect, is requesting guest-author submissions. The special issue, VSI: DRES is devoted to publishing research articles reporting the innovative designs and design interventions in solar thermal and bio-energy for decentralized energy systems (DES). It includes i) new and novel designs of prototype or commercial devices and technologies, their development, modeling and simulations and experimental validation; ii) innovations for processes, techniques, utilization, and applications; iii) novel use of materials for improving efficiency, performance, techno-economic feasibility, and sustainability and iv) research findings addressing the socio-economic, health and safety impacts, and life cycle assessments leading to proposing novel devices for DES. The Deadline for submission is 31 July 2024. More submittal information...

See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in North Korea

The History of Solar Cooking in North Korea

Solar cooking activities are known to have taken place in this country, located on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, but the current status has not been possible to confirm. The activity involved the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) through its church offices in Switzerland, and the cooperation of governmental authorities of the Democratic Republic of Korea. ADRA planned a first phase goal of building 1,000 Solar Kitchen Units, each with cooking capacity for about 120 people, along with substantial food aid. Solare Brücke in Germany assisted in providing the technical equipment.

The project began in 1999 with shipment of food supplies, followed by mobile cooking units, consisting of parabolic cookers mounted on trailers. Automatic tracking systems, built out of bicycle parts, adjusted the parabolic towards the sun. The most recent information on this project is dated July, 2000. Requests for information on the current status of the project have received no answer. The current unstable political situation may well be making this activity more difficult.

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

Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations

See also: Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables

Contacts

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

SCI Associates

Main article: Solar Cookers International Association