Solar Cookers International

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Solar Cookers International (SCI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with headquarters in Sacramento, California, USA, and an office in Nairobi, Kenya. Since its founding in 1987 SCI has spread solar cooking skills and technologies where they are needed most. Over 30,000 families have benefited directly from SCI’s field projects and countless others have used SCI’s resources to learn how to make and use solar cookers and teach others to do the same. SCI depends on the support of its members and donors to continue with its vital mission. In August 2006, SCI was the winner of the World Renewable Energy Award.

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[edit] News and recent developments

  • April 2008: World Bank audio interview with SCI's Margaret Owino
  • February 2008: SCI was contacted by two members of the Convoy of Hope, a U.S. based NGO in Nairobi. As a result of that visit, the following took place as reported by Margaret Owino and Faustine Odaba: Faustine and the Convoy of Hope members went to the Limuru Police Station which was the temporary home of six thousand refugees. The space is small and there was congestion everywhere. People in the camp were from the BATA shoe factory, and the tea farms and they belong mainly to the Luhyia and Luo communities. The camp was organized on the basis of area of origin, for example Luos from Siaya, from Kano, Luhyias from Kakamega, from Bungoma etc. There were many missionary groups working there and pastors ministering to camp residents as well. Food donations were available and accessible and group cooking took place, in huge cooking vessels using firewood by volunteer cooks. There was a great spirit of cooperation in the camp and leaders for food distribution, leaders of water, non food items (clothes) distribution etc. Faustine and the volunteers arrived with 25 CooKit sets at 10:30 A.M. and used six CooKits for rice, seven for cabbage, two with French beans and one with water. The demonstration according to Margaret was for the leaders and other interested people. All the foods cooked by 3 P.M. Only the French beans were not well done and everyone was shocked that foods can cook without using charcoal or firewood.

[edit] Solar Cookers International's services

Browse the countries on a globe or map; there’s a good chance that Solar Cookers International (SCI) has played a role in the advancement of solar cooking in many of them. You might be thinking that an impact of that magnitude is beyond SCI’s resources. It is, to a degree, but we’re stretching your donation dollars and multiplying their impact by providing several key services to solar cooking promoters across the globe. These services have enabled dissemination of tens of thousands of solar cookers worldwide. Often all it takes is a dedicated, energetic person or group, equipped with knowledge from SCI. The result? Healthier communities, greater economic and energy autonomy for families, and, of course, delicious food.

So, what are these key services SCI provides?

Let’s start with the Internet. The SCI-sponsored Solar Cooking Archive (http://www.solarcooking.org) is an unparalleled repository of solar cooking and solar water pasteurization information. It has been visited nearly 2 million times since its launch in 1996. On the Archive you can find construction plans for over two dozen models of solar cookers, an entire solar cookbook, and potentially life-saving resources for solar water pasteurization. If you’re new to solar cooking start with “Frequently-asked questions”, which are available in several languages. In fact, large sections of the Archive have been translated (by humans!) into French, Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese, and translations of articles can be found in languages as varied as Farsi, Chinese, Vietnamese, German, Italian, Urdu, and Arabic. SCI has also recently created the Solar Cooking Wiki in English and Spanish.

Also available via the Internet are several key booklets published by SCI to help solar cooking promoters succeed. Our plans booklet, “Solar Cookers: How to Make, Use and Enjoy,” provides step-by-step construction plans for panel-type and box-type solar cookers; our field guide, “Spreading Solar Cooking,” helps promoters plan solar cooking projects; and our trainer’s manual, “Teaching Solar Cooking,” helps solar cooking instructors stay on task and monitor their students’ progress. All three booklets are available for download on the Archive, or for sale — along with solar cookers, cookbooks and related supplies — inside the back cover of this publication and on SCI’s organizational Web site. Booklets are mailed free of charge to select individuals and groups in developing countries where Internet access is difficult.

SCI’s Solar Cooker Review is another tool aimed at helping independent solar cooking promoters everywhere. In it, promoters exchange stories about solar cooker technology and dissemination, and learn from the successes and challenges of others. Thanks to you, our members and donors, each Review is mailed free of charge to over 2,000 promoters and supporters outside the United States.

SCI’s international directory enables solar cooking promoters working in Mexico or Mali, Senegal or Sri Lanka, or most anywhere else, to communicate and collaborate with others in their area. The directory is updated periodically and posted on the Archive. The directory currently lists about 600 individuals and organizations from nearly 90 countries.

To hasten the global spread of solar cooking, SCI hosts regional and international solar cooking conferences, bringing promoters together to exchange strategies and explore collaborations. SCI recently spearheaded formation of the Solar Cookers International Association. As this association grows and its system of regional networks takes hold, promoters in many regions should find it easier to get regionally-specific information and guidance.

Last, but certainly not least, is SCI’s query response service. With custom responses to over 100 inquires each month, SCI has helped thousands of people answer important questions, find local experts, and access critical resources needed to successfully achieve their solar cooking goals.

Only with your continued support can SCI meet the ever-expanding needs of the worldwide solar cooking community.

[edit] Documents

[edit] Newsletter: Solar Cooker Review

[edit] Communiqués

[edit] Project evaluations

[edit] Annual reports

[edit] Articles in the press

[edit] Becoming a member of SCI

There are few important tangible benefits to being a member of Solar Cookers International (SCI). Most of our members join because of their philanthropic desire to support the work which SCI does. About the only tangible benefit to membership is receipt of our newsletter, the Solar Cooker Review. However, we provide free subscriptions to interested parties outside the United States.

There are two methods for becoming an official member of SCI. One method is to make a donation. Membership is considered valid throughout the calendar year in which the donation is made. Our standard suggested donation is US $50 per year, but any amount, larger or smaller, is sufficient. We can receive donations from outside the United States only under certain methods of payment: we can accept VISA and Mastercard credit card payments; we can accept checks written for US dollars on a US bank; we can accept International Money Orders and International Postal Money Orders if they are payable in US dollars. Such checks or money orders should be made out to "Solar Cookers International" or "SCI." Mail to:

Solar Cookers International
1919 21st Street, Suite 101
Sacramento, CA 95814
USA

You can also join or make a donation online

The second method was devised to meet the needs of solar cooking activists and their organizations located in countries outside the USA. It was developed because we understood that in many countries the ability to donate money, particularly in US dollars, to an organization outside one's country, is limited or restricted by a variety of factors. In this method, we request two things from organizations (or individuals) who are petitioning for membership. We request a letter in which the petitioner requests membership. Along with that letter, we request some materials from the organization that relate to its activity in the solar cooker field. Some examples of these types of materials are: studies on the need for or interest level in solar cooking in the region served by the organization requesting membership; educational materials about solar cooking produced by that organization, possibly in languages local to the region the organization serves; solar cookbooks appropriate to the languages and cuisine of the region served; reports on solar cooker dissemination activities by the organization requesting membership; reports on the results of these activities, particularly number of people or families who become users of solar cookers and their comments on the benefits of solar cooking, the foods they solar cook, problems they have had with solar cooking and solutions they have invented to solve those problems. Other materials relating to the solar cooking activities of the requesting organization can also be used. To be clear, we do not ask that a petitioner send ALL these types of information—simply a sample of documents, cookbooks, etc. that the petitioner has available.

[edit] Audio and video

[edit] Contact

Solar Cookers International
1919 21st St., Suite 101
Sacramento, CA 95811-6827 USA
Tel: +1 916-455-4499
Fax: +1 916-455-4498
info@solarcookers.org

Solar Cookers International East Africa Office
P.O. Box 51190-00200
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel/fax: 254-20-43-47144
mailto:sci@iconnect.co.ke

US Tax Exemption ID: 68-0153141

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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