Changes: Pakistan

Revision as of 21:29, 2 September 2008

News and Recent Developments

July 2003: The core objective of the Building and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP), a project of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, is to "consider and promote the measures related to the habitat of the desolate communities of the Karakoram, Hindukush and Himalayan mountain villages in Northern Areas and Chitral of Pakistan, and enable these communities to be transformed into a healthy living built environment through sustainable improvements." To that end, BACIP produces a number of energy efficient and renewable energy-power products, including a new line of solar box cookers. After intensive research on radiation intensity and weather conditions of northern Pakistan, three solar cookers were developed, ranging in size from 25 inches long by 21 inches wide to 31 inches long by 25 inches wide. Costs are expected to be US $30-40 each. According to Professor Nadeemullah Khan, a BACIP consultant, many surveyed families indicated the need and demand for such products in this energy-scarce region. Construction materials were selected based on performance and local availability. The design allows for easy replacement of glass if damaged. Contact: Nadeemullah Khan

The History of Solar Cooking in Pakistan

The country of Pakistan hosted one of the larger privately sponsored solar cooking program ever carried out. A British based organization, SERVE (Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises) began work with refugees from Afghanistan in 1980. The previous year, after the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan, nearly 3 million refugees had fled to Pakistan, principally to the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan. The population was made up of largely illiterate rural people, most of whom had lived near the border with Pakistan. A variety of relief and educational programs were offered to the group as they settled in for what turned out to be a lengthy stay in refugee camps. In 1983, SERVE conducted a survey to assess what the refugees felt to be their most urgent needs. Done very professionally with assistance from UN experts, the survey's results revealed the greatest felt need was for assistance in obtaining cooking fuel. The area had 300 sunny days a year and it thus appeared to SERVE staff that solar cooking would be useful. Devices that were within their financial reach and adequate training in solar usage would be essential, however. Initially, a small pilot project was conducted in one camp with 50 families. These pioneers were each loaned a cooker and taught to use it. The ovens were similar to those in use in India, boxes with glass top and a mirror reflector. At the end of the project, 80% of the families wanted to buy the cooker. A few modifications, based on the pilot experience, were made in the device, making them somewhat larger, using shiny mylar rather than mirrored glass for the reflector. The cost of the boxes was between $60 and -259- $70, more than refugees could afford; donor assistance was found to subsidize that cost partly, with refugees paying around $18. A small workshop made the cookers, and supply was able to keep up with demand. The happy users of these cookers were their best advertisement. Eventually, the refugees felt able to begin the trek homeward, after political events changed the situation in Afghanistan. Many took their ovens along, and by that action advertised solar cooking to new audiences. Demand was high enough that a shipment of 780 ovens was sent to Kabul and sold out, from the back of the truck in a marketplace, in five days. Demand in Afghanistan was higher even than in Pakistan, perhaps due to the ever-present danger from unexploded mines in fields and ^growing shortages of wood. By the turn of the new century, SERVE donors were suffering from "donor fatigue" and, although there was still demand in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the solar program was ended. (See Afghanistan above) Between 1985 and then, SERVE had distributed around 20,000 solar cookers in the area. Solar cooking has not however disappeared in Pakistan, though almost certainly curtailed by the absence of a major promoter. As reported in 2003, The Building and Construction Improvement Programme, a Project of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, is working in remote areas of Northern Pakistan. The project has introduced a number of energy efficient and renewable devices, including a line of solar cookers. Like the SERVE model, the project chose to use a box model. Construction materials were selected on the basis of availability in the area with provisions built in for replacement of the glass box top. As of the time of writing, no further information was available on this new project. Brief reports of other users surface from time to time, for example, Master Fazal ur-Rehman of Kundian City in the Punjab, indicates that he has built a number of types of cookers )SCI Rev., Jul 02). Pakistan remains heavily rural (62.5%) and the forested area is both small (3.1%) and shrinking (-1.5% per annum), meaning that woodfuel must be -260- extremely scarce. With the strong record of solar cooking acceptance demonstrated by SERVE in the 1980s and 90s, it is likely that at least some Pakistanis are making cookers themselves and using them to meet their needs.

Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations

Solar Cookers International has rated Pakistan as the #3 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). In 2020, the number of people in Pakistan, a country with abundant sun but fuel scarcity, is estimated to be 45,400,000.

Documents

Reports

Articles in the media

Web pages

Concrete Solar Concentrator - A cooker designed by a Pakistani student

Frequently-Asked Questions "Urdu"

Construction plans in Urdu

Easy lid

Contact

A complete list of NGOs and individuals working in Pakistan is available in the International Directory of Solar Cooking Promotors.

NGOs based in or working in the Pakistan

Individuals

Paul Munsen

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 ==News and Recent Developments==
 [[Image:BACIP_2003.jpg|right]]
-*'''July 2003:''' The core objective of the [[Building and Construction Improvement Programme]] (BACIP), a project of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, is to "consider and promote the measures related to the habitat of the desolate communities of the Karakoram, Hindukush and Himalayan mountain villages in Northern Areas and Chitral of Pakistan, and enable these communities to be transformed into a healthy living built environment through sustainable improvements." To that end, BACIP produces a number of energy efficient and renewable energy-power products, including a new line of solar box cookers. After intensive research on radiation intensity and weather conditions of northern Pakistan, three solar cookers were developed, ranging in size from 25 inches long by 21 inches wide to 31 inches long by 25 inches wide. Costs are expected to be US $30-40 each. According to Professor Nadeemullah Khan, a BACIP consultant, many surveyed families indicated the need and demand for such products in this energy-scarce region. Construction materials were selected based on performance and local availability. The design allows for easy replacement of glass if damaged. '''''Contact:''' [[Nadeemullah Khan]]''
+*'''July 2003:''' The core objective of the Building and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP), a project of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, is to "consider and promote the measures related to the habitat of the desolate communities of the Karakoram, Hindukush and Himalayan mountain villages in Northern Areas and Chitral of Pakistan, and enable these communities to be transformed into a healthy living built environment through sustainable improvements." To that end, BACIP produces a number of energy efficient and renewable energy-power products, including a new line of solar box cookers. After intensive research on radiation intensity and weather conditions of northern Pakistan, three solar cookers were developed, ranging in size from 25 inches long by 21 inches wide to 31 inches long by 25 inches wide. Costs are expected to be US $30-40 each. According to Professor Nadeemullah Khan, a BACIP consultant, many surveyed families indicated the need and demand for such products in this energy-scarce region. Construction materials were selected based on performance and local availability. The design allows for easy replacement of glass if damaged. '''''Contact:''' [[Nadeemullah Khan]]''
 ==The History of Solar Cooking in Pakistan==