Changes: Solar cooking news archive 2016

Revision as of 17:57, 13 July 2011

February 2011

Food versus charcoal — Solar cookers allow the world's poor to apply the money they save on fuel toward the purchase of more food. In Nairobi, Kenya, for example, each food item shown in this photo costs individually the same as the pile of charcoal in the middle of the photo.

The Impact of Rising Food Prices - Across the globe, food stocks are down in part because of unfavorable weather, ranging from drought to floods in various parts of the world. The demand for rice and other grains, meanwhile has been growing, especially in big developing countries like China. This situation has added to the struggle for families trying to survive, and has helped to fuel protests in the Mideast. With food costs rising in developing nations, there is less money for the population to buy needed fuel, primarily charcoal, for cooking. Introducing solar cooking to more areas is an important way for residents to offset the higher price of food staples. Read more...

Solar cooker manufacturer offers additional aid to Haiti - Sun Ovens International is pledging to match every Sun Oven purchased dollar for dollar and will donate all the proceeds to the disaster-stricken people in Haiti through the Friends of Haiti Organization (FOHO). Cash donations are also accepted and will also be matched. Read more...

The World Wildlife Fund, working with energy consultant, Ecofys, has launched "The Energy Report" - It presents a detailed plan for earth's population, to thrive without nuclear and fossil fuels by 2050! The report includes solar cookers as one of the zero emissions solutions to the harmful indoor air pollution and massive deforestation faced by hundreds of millions of people in the developing world who still cook over open fires. The Energy Report

[[Video:Solar-Powered Cooking Arrives in Southern Mexico|thumb|300px|thumb|Taqueria Poncho, solar street vendor arrives in Oaxaca, Mexico.]]

The first solar powered street vendor in Oaxaca, Mexico - The inventor of the system is swiss engineer, Michael Götz. The vendor who operates the cart is Alfredo Garcia Martinez. See: Taqueria Poncho, solar street vendor, watch the video.

Eldoret, Kenya students 2010 — Eldoret, Kenya students with their recently constructed solar panel cookers.

Student success shows independent spread of solar cooking - The Eldoret Student Projects in Kenya, spearheaded by Camily Wedende of Sun Cookers International, and aided by long-distance adviser, Sharon Cousins, of Solar Cookers International, have taken an important step in that spread with a student team who not only learned how to cook with sunshine but also learned to take a creative and scientific approach to solar cooking. Students researched existing solar cookers on the Solar Cookers World Network site. They put their heads together and came up with new ideas to try. They performed comparative tests on an existing model and two of their prototypes. While all three reached cooking temperatures, one innovation showed the strongest performance at their location. All twenty students built durable solar panel cookers to take home to the camps where they live, and have been using them to prepare food and provide water pasteurization for their families. They keep records of their progress and experiments, amazing the neighbors who stop by to see food cooking in a stove powered by sunshine, a stove that children in their community helped to invent. Camily and the team hope that other schools and clubs can use the example of their pilot project to help more youth become scientists for solar cooking, to aid in the spread of this bright idea whose time has come.

January 2011

Indian government clears plan for sixty solar cities - The Indian Government will kick off an ambitious scheme to develop sixty solar cities in two years. It will be done in collaboration with city corporations, municipalities and district councils. The focus will be on renewable energy devices such as kitchen waste-based plants, solar water heating systems, solar cooking systems, solar steam generation, drying and air heating systems, solar air-conditioning, bio-mass gasification based systems and biogas. Read more...

U.S. Department of State awards $100,000 grant to Turkish foundation - The grant will allow the Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (FSWW) to launch a year-long solar cooking project. The project will have two phases. During the first phase, educational seminars about the effects of climate change are planned in several communities — Istanbul, the Marmara district of Bandırma, the southern province of Hatay and the southeastern province of Mardin. Renewable energy sources will be discussed as alternatives to smokey cooking fires. An estimated 2,000 solar cookers will be built and sold by women’s groups during the second phase of the project, providing needed income opportunities. Read more...

Flood-affected Pakistanis receive solar generators and cookers -- The people of Swat, Pakistan have received solar-powered energy generators for electricity and solar-powered cooking equipment funded by a leading Berlin-based non-governmental organization, German Aid for Afghan Children (GAAC). The organization has begun one million Euros relief and reconstruction work in the Khyber Pakhtunhwa's districts worst hit by floods. GAAC had announced in 2010 the distribution of solar-powered lithium-ion batteries to generate electricity and solar cooking equipment for the planned 1000 families of Swat, Nowshera, Pabbi and Bannu districts. Read more...

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ID Cook offers Portable snap-together parabolic solar cooker - Based in France, ID Cook markets the Cookup200. A clever design, it is assembled quickly from notched pieces that fit together without fasteners. When disassembled, it is easily transported in a relatively compact travel bag. Typically this style of cooker is constructed with fairly heavy materials, and a single piece reflector. Parabolic cookers are often used at a single location. This video of the lightweight solar cooker demonstrates its assembly, operation, and portability.

SCI exhibition at the UN 1-20-11 — Solar Cookers International exhibition at the UN.

Solar Cookers International exhibition and reception at the Untied Nations a success - Representatives from non-governmental organizations and interested supporters attended the three-hour, open-house event put on by Solar Cookers International on January 18th. The concept of solar cooking is so important, that representatives from Nigeria, the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Somalia made it through freezing, blowing rain to attend the exhibition. A wide variety of solar cookers were on display with informational material accompanying the cookers. Video loops played throughout the evening, showing real people around the world cooking with the sun and training others to do so. There was a real urgency at the exhibition that the message of solar cooking be strong, unified, and be present in global discussions of development and progress for people around the world.

African solar cooking partnership project visited by Dr. Jill Biden, wife of the U.S. Vice President - Lift Up Africa is a strong believer that partnering and sharing resources is a key to successful implementation and sustainability. This project was designed to introduce solar cooking and related technologies to ten communities in Kenya. The partnership relied on Africa HEART, a Kenyan-based NGO recently visited by Vice President Biden’s wife Dr. Jill Biden, to identify three community groups in each district, the fifty trainees in each community, and training venues. Africa HEART covered expenses and handling logistics related to transport for the solar cooking equipment, distribution venues, and follow-up on usage and other needs. Solar Cookers International East Africa Office (SCI-EA) provided the trainers and supplies, written reports, and conducted the training. Lift Up Africa provided a grant to cover direct expenses related to equipment purchase and SCI-EA’s travel, partnership connections, and worked with Africa HEART on follow-up and project evaluation. This project was a success and 150 families, approximately 1,200 people, have benefited from their new training and solar cooking equipment. This project demonstrates the value of independent organizations working together, each providing their area of expertise, to achieve substantial results. Hopefully, this will be a continuing pattern for projects initiated by members of the Solar Cookers World Network.

Haiti - One year later - Haiti continues to benefit from solar cooking. Solar Cookers International (SCI) and International Child Care Ministries (ICCM) are working to expand a project in the schools around Port Au Prince to integrate solar cooking into the 5th grade science curriculum. The goal is that each student will receive a CooKit to use each day in preparing and cooking their lunch, all the time learning about science. Training and certification of teachers continues, as do SCI’s efforts to secure funding to provide 2000 more CooKits for this school project. To date, SCI has provided 200 CooKits, pots and Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) for four schools. With your help, we will achieve our goal of 2000 more! Reaching students in their classrooms, teaching a new lifestyle habit, while at the same time providing environment education is a winning program. Background: SCI, in collaboration with Sun Ovens International and ICCM, distributed over 400 CooKits in Haiti immediately following the devastating earthquake there. Near the community of Pigeon, 135 Haitians were trained in solar cooking by Programme Energie Solaire. Each participant received a CooKit, a pot and a WAPI, giving these earthquake survivors a method to cook their food and pasteurize their water without need of scarce and expensive fuel. Solar cooking is technology that offers relief in disaster situations: 1) When infrastructures are in ruins and no energy or gas is available, solar cooking utilizes the sun to cook hot food; 2) When fuel is scarce, cooking with the sun offers a clean, workable solution; 3) Solar cookers fight cholera by heating water to pasteurization temperatures (65°C or 150°F); and 4) Using a solar cooker requires only the sun, and does not necessitate searching for other forms of fuel. Families can stay together and remain safe. SCI thanks you for your ongoing support for solar cooking in Haiti.

2010

Main article: Solar cooking news archive 2010

2009

Main article: Solar cooking news archive 2009

2008

Main article: Solar cooking news archive 2008

Older news

Even older news

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+==February 2011==
+[[Image:Food_versus_charcoal.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Solar cookers allow the world's poor to apply the money they save on fuel toward the purchase of more food. In Nairobi, Kenya, for example, each food item shown in this photo costs individually the same as the pile of [[charcoal]] in the middle of the photo.]]
+* '''The Impact of Rising Food Prices''' - Across the globe, food stocks are down in part because of unfavorable weather, ranging from drought to floods in various parts of the world. The demand for rice and other grains, meanwhile has been growing, especially in big developing countries like China. This situation has added to the struggle for families trying to survive, and has helped to fuel protests in the Mideast. With food costs rising in developing nations, there is less money for the population to buy needed fuel, primarily charcoal, for cooking. Introducing solar cooking to more areas is an important way for residents to offset the higher price of food staples. [http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133852810/the-impact-of-rising-food-prices-on-arab-unrest#commentBlock Read more...]
+* '''Solar cooker manufacturer offers additional aid to Haiti''' - [[Sun Ovens International]] is pledging to match every [[Sun Oven]] purchased dollar for dollar and will donate all the proceeds to the disaster-stricken people in [[Haiti]] through the [[Friends of Haiti Organization]] (FOHO). Cash donations are also accepted and will also be matched. [http://www.prlog.org/11310295-sun-ovens-international-brings-solar-cooking-to-haiti.html Read more...]
+*'''The World Wildlife Fund, working with energy consultant, Ecofys, has launched "The Energy Report"''' - It presents a detailed plan for earth's population, to thrive without nuclear and fossil fuels by 2050! The report includes solar cookers as one of the zero emissions solutions to the harmful indoor air pollution and massive deforestation faced by hundreds of millions of people in the developing world who still cook over open fires.  [http://assets.panda.org/downloads/101223_energy_report_final_print_2.pdf The Energy Report]
+[[Video:Solar-Powered Cooking Arrives in Southern Mexico|thumb|300px|thumb|[[Taqueria Poncho, solar street vendor]] arrives in Oaxaca, [[Mexico]].]]
+*'''The first solar powered street vendor in Oaxaca, Mexico''' - The inventor of the system is swiss engineer, [[Michael Götz]]. The vendor who operates the cart is Alfredo Garcia Martinez. See: [[Taqueria Poncho, solar street vendor]], watch the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_14itmU-2k video].
+[[File:Eldoret,_Kenya_students_2010.jpg|thumb|350px|Eldoret, [[Kenya]] students with their recently constructed [[solar panel cooker]]s.]]
+*'''Student success shows independent spread of solar cooking''' - The [[Eldoret Student Projects]] in [[Kenya]], spearheaded by [[Camily Wedende]] of [[Sun Cookers International]], and aided by long-distance adviser, [[Sharon Cousins]], of [[Solar Cookers International]], have taken an important step in that spread with a student team who not only learned how to cook with sunshine but also learned to take a creative and scientific approach to solar cooking.  Students researched existing solar cookers on the [[Solar Cookers World Network]] site. They put their heads together and came up with new ideas to try.  They performed comparative tests on an existing model and two of their prototypes.  While all three reached cooking temperatures, one innovation showed the strongest performance at their location.  All twenty students built durable [[solar panel cooker]]s to take home to the camps where they live, and have been using them to prepare food and provide water [[pasteurization]] for their families. They keep records of their progress and experiments, amazing the neighbors who stop by to see food cooking in a stove powered by sunshine, a stove that children in their community helped to invent. Camily and the team hope that other schools and clubs can use the example of their pilot project to help more youth become scientists for solar cooking, to aid in the spread of this bright idea whose time has come.
 ==January 2011==
 * '''Indian government clears plan for sixty solar cities''' - The Indian Government will kick off an ambitious scheme to develop sixty solar cities in two years. It will be done in collaboration with city corporations, municipalities and district councils. The focus will be on renewable energy devices such as kitchen waste-based plants, solar water heating systems, solar cooking systems, solar steam generation, drying and air heating systems, solar air-conditioning, bio-mass gasification based systems and biogas. [http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/govt-clears-plan-60-solar-cities-208 Read more...]