The versatile All Seasons Solar Cooker cooks year-round - The All Season Solar Cooker is featured this month as a solar panel cooker whose key feature is its adjustable, coordinated reflector array. The advantage of the ASSC is that it can efficiently capture the earliest morning sun, to begin cooking far earlier, and later, in the day than most other designs. The cooking pot maintains a level position regardless of cooker orientation. It also folds into a flat package that is easy to transport and ship. Visit the cooker article for plans that can be downloaded for free from designer Jim La Joie. SCI tests showed that bread could be baked easily in Seattle (47° N latitude) on February 3rd.
Spanish solar cooking promoter offers to donate cookers to other groups - ACCESO director, René Bijloo, has made the generous offer to donate up to thirty AlSol 1.4parabolic solar cookers to any non-profit humanitarian project providing solar energy options for rural areas around the world. Contact René Bijloo with detailed information about your program.
Private equity firm invests over $11 million USD in Gadhia Solar - Private equity firm Zephyr Peacock has reportedly invested $11,000,000 USD in Mumbai-based Gadhia Solar in India.. The solar energy company provides energy solutions by using parabolic concentrated technology and has implemented some of the world’s largest solar thermal systems during the past two decades. Read more...
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 CooKits 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. Read more...
Featured solar panel cooker receives attention, and a suggestion - The Copenhagen Solar Cooker Light was featured here this past November, and Teong Tan, an active participant in the Network, has suggested an alternate plate base design, which will shorten the assembly time and not require any bolts. His design for the base uses two sandwiched pieces of cardboard sewn together, creating sleeves for the reflector corners to slip into. Alternate Base Plate for the Copenhagen Solar Cooker Light
Indian Government budgets six hundred million dollars for solar cooking! - Ajay Chandak of Prince India reports that in the Indian government's latest five year plan, 30 billion INR (approx. $600 million USD) is budgeted for solar cooking in 500,000 schools across India. This will not only help in saving the environment, but it will expose millions of school children to solar cooking and build the confidence that these systems work. For more information on solar cooking in India,
Solar Cooking NV and Sol Suffit ship 630 solar cookers to Senegal - The project is a joint venture between Solar Cooking NV in the Netherlands, and Sol Suffit, a long time promoter of solar cooking in Senegal. The SolarCooker Eco3 cookers will be introduced in Dakar and in eight villages next to Djoudj National Park. Local volunteers participated in workshops, and will be training others in the surrounding villages. Trainees were also made familiar with the method of heat retention cooking. They found it quite easy to make good quality hay baskets with inexpensive baskets(locally made) and empty rice bags filled with dry hay.
A simple panel cooker makes advances in design - The Sun-Funnel cooker, designed by Teong Tan, is similar to the Fun-Panel cooker, but with a different panel fold. The intent is to have a panel cooker that will be strong enough to support a cooking pot when the cooker is tipped back for better orientation to the sun. It also uses a stick placed through the cooker base to allow the pot to remain level while cooking.
New SCWNet members report 155,000 solar cookers distributed - As a result of the recent SCWNet membership drive, 167 new members have joined in the past six months, including 110 new NGOs. We welcome their participation in the Network where they can share their project experiences.
Small, compact, and inexpensive solar panel cooker - The Copenhagen Solar Cooker Light is featured as an example of a nicely conceived solar panel cooker. It is flexible in it's design, as well as in the number of ways it can be configured. The components include a flat base plate, which flexible reflective panels are bolted to. Then using simple clamps, the cooker can be configured with a low open front and high back, or with more vertical sides for cooking when the sun is directly overhead. The designer, Sharon Clausson, states that the curved shape of the cooker is more stable than typical panel cookers in windy conditions.
Patent landscape report on solar cooking - The World Intellectual Property Organization commissioned an extensive report on the state of solar cooking, prepared by Scope e-Knowledge Center Private Limited based in India. The report validates the viability of solar cooking, a technology well-suited for a growing portion of the world's population. It also provides a number of examples of various designs that have applied for patents. Read the report.
Celebrity chef José Andrés makes an impassioned plea for improved cookstoves and solar cookers to benefit the world's poor.
TED Talks on solar cooking - Louise Meyer was joined by José Andrés and Marcela Valladolid for a TEDx WashingtonCircle presentation titled Food & Communication: Recipes for Development. Louise Meyer is a founding director of Solar Household Energy, and a tireless and inspirational advocate of solar cooking technology. She has taught solar cooking in the refugee camps of East Africa and in villages from Zimbabwe to Mexico. José Andrés is an award-winning chef and restauranteur, who has made a substantial commitment of his time and resources to provide access to solar cooking in Haiti. The event was open to the public, and took place at the International Food Policy Research institute. You can watch the on-demand broadcast here.
New SCWNet member 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 Stoves 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 fireless cookers, 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. Registration and program information.
Solar Cookers World Network Facebook group reaches 400 members - Join the discussion.
Water pasteurization system changes community health in Kenyan village - Solvatten is a compact, portable solar water pasteurization appliance about the size of a small suitcase. A recent follow-up study of new users in the Bungoma district in western Kenya showed a marked improvement in family health and student attendance. Before Solvatten use, 67% of the children in the families had irregular attendance at school as a result of being sick, often with waterborne diseases. After purchasing Solvatten the overall attendance of children at school has increased by an average of 87 percent, as stated by the parents. Before using the system the typical family had someone ill three to four times per month, and that has changed to only .03 times per month. Since waterborne diseases have all but disappeared, people are saving money on medicines and medical services.
New solar grill uses latent heat storage - Students at MIT are working on a case study for a new type of solar powered outdoor grill. Based on the technology from MIT professor David Wilson, this grill will collect thermal energy from the sun and store it to allow cooking times for up to twenty-five hours at temperatures above 230°C (450°F). Wilson’s technology uses a Fresnel solar reflector to harness the sun’s energy to melt down a container of lithium nitrate. The lithium nitrate serves as a solar battery. Due to its phase change reaction, the thermal energy is able to be stored for longer periods of time and at higher temperatures, by means of latent heat storage. Heat is then redistributed through convection, which allows for outdoor cooking. A Solar Grill Prototype for a Greener Tomorrow - BarbequeLovers.com
Solar ovens, renewable energy offer hope for Afghanistan (Reuters) - At first, she noticed Afghan children hauling brush. Then, in Afghan family compounds, she noticed women tending small fires and trying to cook over them. But it wasn't until U.S. diplomat [and Solar Cookers International Board Member] Patricia McArdle realized how often it was sunny in Afghanistan that she put it together with a youthful memory of cooking with solar ovens and realized this was a low-tech option offering long-term hope to the war-torn nation, which is preparing for a draw-down of U.S. troops. At first, she noticed Afghan children hauling brush. Then, in Afghan family compounds, she noticed women tending small fires and trying to cook over them. But it wasn't until U.S. diplomat Patricia McArdle realized how often it was sunny in Afghanistan that she put it together with a youthful memory of cooking with solar ovens and realized this was a low-tech option offering long-term hope to the war-torn nation, which is preparing for a draw-down of U.S. troops. Read more...
July 2011 - June 2012: International opportunity for testing solar cooker designs - Originally announced as a one-time event Oct. 11-13, 2011 with a related conference, the solar cooker competition has been cancelled, and instead there will be a year-long opportunity for having solar cookers and fuel stoves tested free. India’s Promoters and Researchers in Non-Conventional Energy (PRINCE) group has updated standards for solar cookers, developed in conjunction with input from SCWNet members. These universal testing standards will be used to evaluate the cookers by simulating real world conditions. Designers, manufacturers, NGOs and individuals are invited to submit solar cookers for testing, and need not be present for the tests. While there will be no cash prizes, solar cookers will be rated on thermal performance, cost of manufacture and transport, and user convenience. Send cookers anytime between now and June 2012 to: Prof. Ajay Chandak, PRINCE, Shamgiri, Opp Swagat Lodge, Agra Road, Deopur, Dhuli – 424005, Maharashtra, India. Include your usual instructions for consumers. If you wish your cooker returned, please arrange to cover return shipping costs. After testing, entrants will be contacted with results, and have the option of omitting their information in the publicly listed ratings. No reply from entrants within two weeks or so after receiving their results will be taken as consent to publish. Other questions? Email: renewable.india@gmail.com.
Sampling solar cooked lentils, rice, potatoes, eggs, mixed vegetables, dahl, popcorn, tea, and for dessert, chocolate, yellow, lemon and spice cakes at the Dar al Noor Mosque, July 2011.
July 2011: Solar cooking expo at northern Virginia mosque - Solar cooking in Islamic countries is on the rise, but its wide-spread acceptance as a significant way to reduce the damage caused by smoky cooking fires will need greater support from the international development community. Solar Cookers International (SCI) board member Patricia McArdle and Afzal Syed of the Dar al Noor Mosque congregation contributed to this goal by hosting a well-attended solar cooking demonstration at Syed's mosque in Manassas, Virginia on Saturday July 9. Solar Household Energy (SHE) co-founder Louise Meyer and two SHE volunteers from Washington DC also participated in this event. A popular DC radio show interview with McArdle about her novel Farishta two days before the event, drew large crowds from around the northern Virginia/DC metro region.
TAHA CHAMCHIHA Solar Cooking in the Sahel
Solar Cooking in the Sahel - A Goedhart Film production, TAHA CHAMCHIHA Solar Cooking in the Sahel, documents daily life for the Sudanese refugees living in camps in bordering Chad. Tchad Solaire has trained over 12,000 women in the use of simple solar panel cookers. These CooKits have provided the women additional free time normally spent searching for scarce firewood. Within each camp there is a workshop center where cookers are made for distribution to the other residents. Though the cookers are somewhat fragile, the women have appreciated being involved with the process of making the simple CooKits. The film also shows how the companion Guffahheat-retention cooker baskets are being assembled to use with the panel cookers to keep the food piping hot for dinner, served in the early evening.
Global Resource Alliance receives generous grant from the Ferguson Foundation - The Global Resource Alliance will use this grant to offer 50 solar cooking workshops in the Mara Region of Tanzania and over 1,000 subsidized solar CooKits. This, in addition to a grant from WeForest and Deliotte Belgium to plant 130,000 trees over the next two years, will help restore this heavily deforested area and prevent many health problems and deaths related to smoke inhalation.
United Nations report predicts growth in renewable energies based on the success of small-scale projects. - "The rapid growth of small-scale renewable energy applications in developing countries should underpin the continued expansion of the global renewables sector, despite a slump in investment levels at the start of this year. That is the view of Professor Ulf Moslener of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, the academic body that produced today's United Nations Environmental Programme report into green energy investments, who predicted that unconventional renewable energy technologies such as systems designed for cooking and food processing will drive future investment in the sector." - Business Green (Read more...)
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