Solar Household Energy

From Solar Cooking

Solar Household Energy, Inc.'s mission is to harness free enterprise for the introduction of solar cooking to improve quality of life and relieve stress on the environment. She, Inc. was created in 1997 by individuals who had ties with SCI. The specific goal of this organization is the promotion of solar cooking by means of market initiatives. The rationale is that the non-governmental organizations of the world, primarily with charitable goals, were not sufficiently considering the potential of the market to assist in meeting the goal of widespread availability of solar devices, particularly for the poor. With non-profit status obtained in 2001, SHE, Inc. has provided consultative services to solar cooking promoters in a number of countries, forging loose alliances in Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Morocco, Senegal, and others. Most recently, SHE Inc. was a winner in the World Bank's Development Marketplace. The funds will support promotion of solar cooking, using an improved and more durable version of the CooKit in Mexico, principally in nature conservancy areas where the use of biomass is prohibited.

September 2007: Louise Meyer narrates this video about the work of SHE in Mexico

Our programs benefit families in impoverished and environmentally threatened regions of the world by providing the HotPot solar cooker, and training to assure its integration into routine cooking practices.

• In El Salvador, women are using the HotPot almost daily. One enterprising woman cooks snacks using the HotPot to sell at local soccer games.
• In Senegal, women are buying one-fourth less fuel wood and half the amount of gas for cooking, thanks to the HotPot.
• In Mali, an entrepreneur has organized large conferences, training sessions, and attracted national television media attention to market the HotPot.

Your gift will directly benefit Solar Household Energy's program participants:

• $50 will provide a family with a HotPot
• $250 will provide training for an entire village

Contents 1 Recent news and developments 2 Annual reports 3 Articles in the media 4 Audio and video 5 See also 6 Contact

[edit] Recent news and developments

• March 2009: Donate to project online: Solar Cooking to Help Women Affected by War in El Salvador - Global Giving

• November 2008: The Senegalese Ministry of Biofuels and Renewable Energy is entering into an agreement with Solar Household Energy to produce and sell solar cookers locally. "We hope to make solar stoves available in all 11 regions of Senegal," said Abdoulaye Touré, solar energy specialist at the ministry. More information...

• November 2008: In late 2006, Acciónatura, a Spanish NGO, approached SHE about implementing a project in Peru with their Peruvian partner NGO. While they had the funding to buy the HotPots and implement the project, they did not have the solar cooking technical expertise. Therefore, they requested in-country technical solar cooking support from Solar Household Energy (SHE). SHE signed a Terms of Reference with Acciónatura to work in a consortium with Asociación de Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) to conduct a solar cooking project. The solar cooking trainings were launched in mid-April outside of Lucre, Peru (about 30 kilometers from Cuzco). During five separate trainings, 100 women learned solar cooking techniques. Traditional Peruvian dishes, estofada (chicken and potato stew), rice, and baked peaches were cooked. All the women were extremely impressed with the ability of the HotPot to cook traditional food. In the coming months, the women will attend follow-up meetings where they will share solar cooking experiences. Additionally, the women will participate in a work-exchange program. In the work-exchange program, the women will plant trees in a reforestation project, conduct solar cooking demonstrations in their communities, and conduct solar cooking demonstrations at a regional food fair.

• June 2008: Solar Oven Cooking: A Lucrative Business - News Blaze

• February 2008: SHE has launched two new pilot projects in Guatemala with Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza and Asociación Kajih-Jel. In conjunction with the two NGOs, SHE conducted solar cooking trainings to 75 women in two rural villages. The women were impressed with the exceptionally good flavor of the chicken stew, rice, and plantains cooked in the HotPot. A micro-credit system will allow participants to amortize HotPot payments over time.

• November 2007: SHE has launched pilot projects with two new Salvadoran NGOs, Unidad Ecológica Salvadoreña (UNES) and Asociación de Lisiados de Guerra de El Salvador (ALGES). The women participating in the program receive a solar cooking training and hold monthly meetings to share solar cooking experience. One group of women participates in a micro-credit payment program. The other group of women participates in a work exchange program: they conduct solar cooking demonstrations in exchange for a HotPot. Additionally, partner organizations hold a technology exchange between local communities to spread the word about solar cooking!

• May 2007: The May issue of House and Garden features an article on solar cooking by Sue Halpern and Bill McKibben. "We are partial to the Solar Household Energy Inc.'s HotPot," the authors wrote. They offered two reasons for their praise: "Buying it supports the work of SHE in less developed regions of the world, especially where forests have been ravaged for cooking fuel, and because it comes with its own cooking pot." The authors stated that solar ovens "haven't reached the mainstream yet," but added that solar cookers "are attracting attention for producing intensely flavored food without match or plug." The article also describes other solar ovens and the use of solar cooking both in the developing world and in the U.S. The article is currently on the magazine's web site

• April 2007: Solar Household Energy partners in El Salvador are currently implementing solar cooking pilot projects that their communities have embraced. More than 100 HotPots have been distributed in the past five months! The majority of women use them for cooking on a daily basis, helping to offset the time and money costs of foraging or paying for wood. Solar Household Energy continues to raise funds for this project with the goal of offering more families the opportunity to own a HotPot. Your donation will directly benefit participants and their families. For details about the program please go to http://www.she-inc.org/art.php?id=62. If you would like to make a donation please go to http://www.she-inc.org/contribute.php. (*Please specify that the donation is for the El Salvador program.)

• 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.

• January 2007: The HotPot will be featured on the Earth Focus TV program in late January. This program highlights the October 2006 Green Festival in Washington, D.C. that promotes a sustainable economy, ecological balance, and social justice. Over 300 exhibitors attended the festival and Solar Household Energy was one of a few organizations highlighted in this program. Please here to see local program times and channels for Earth Focus: Green Festival.

• November 2006: World Bank president hails HotPot solar oven
• The activities conducted and the reports provided by the Florida Solar Energy Center for Solar Household Energy, Inc. while developing the HotPot

• Fall 2006: SHE is in contact with the Agricultural and Rural Development Association (ARA-Ghana). The ARA-Ghana has experimented with the HotPot and considers its quality and design to be very marketable. It is not planning a promotion program.

• June 2006: Solar Household Energy, Inc.'s Director of Programs for Latin America and East Africa, Camille McCarthy, traveled to Kenya and Tanzania to meet with governmental agencies, NGOs, and private sector representatives to explore the feasibility of cooperative solar cooking ventures. Many groups expressed interest in SHE pilot solar cooking projects. SHE expects to conduct initial solar cooking training, marketing and sales projects in Kenya and Tanzania in early 2007.

• Summer 2006: Solar Household Energy's first bulk delivery of HotPots arrived this summer in Mali, West Africa. The container of 1,000 cookers was purchased by a Malian energy services company which has promoted solar cooking in Mali for a number of years and will be a regional distributor of HotPots. To learn more about our West Africa programs, go here.

[edit] Annual reports

• 2006: The 2006 fiscal year witnessed significant advances in Solar Household Energy's efforts to disseminate solar cooking technology to many parts of the world including the completion of our first major shipment of HotPot solar ovens to West Africa. Read more here.

[edit] Articles in the media

• August 2008: Nuts + Bolts-Cooking with Sunlight - Natural Home Magazine

[edit] Audio and video

• May 2008: Hot Times in the Summertime - EarthBeat Radio

• July 2007: Video: Solar Household Energy's work with HotPot cookers in Mexico

[edit] See also

• Dar Curtis
• Louise Meyer
• Patricia McArdle

[edit] Contact

P.O. Box 15063
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA

http://she-inc.org

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