Sun Ovens International

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[edit] News and recent developments

  • April 2008: Sun Ovens International is now assembling the Global Sun Oven in a factory in Haiti. A micro finance system is being used to make these ovens available to poor people who need them. An average family spends $2.30 (U.S.) per week to purchase charcoal. A Sun Oven can be used for 70% of their cooking and will save an average of $1.61 a week in charcoal expenditures. Weekly payments are set at $ .97 (60% of the savings); the remaining $ .64 per week creates an incentive to solar cook and takes money that literally was going up in smoke, distributing it through the local economy. Initially, the challenge of implementing this system was that women in Haiti live very much one day at a time and even though they saved a high percentage of their income by using a Sun Oven, they rarely had a long enough view to understand that they were saving money. To overcome this problem, cardboard solar panel cookers were introduced. Women received 3 days of training centered around the construction of a cardboard solar panel cooker, the principals and concepts of solar cooking, and the frailty of the Haitian environment. The training occurs over lunchtime, and the first two days, Haitian foods are cooked in Sun Ovens and served for lunch. On the third day, a solar potluck is held. Each student prepares food in their own cardboard cooker and shares it with fellow trainees. As part of the training, participants receive a log allowing them to document the use of their cardboard cooker and the amount of money they saved by not using charcoal. Participants who use their solar panel cooker on sunny days, for 90 days or longer, can use their log as a down payment on a Sun Oven. The Sun Ovens cook food much faster and can be used to cook the evening meals. After 90 days of documenting the use of the cardboard cooker, women have a much better understanding of the financial benefits of cooking with the sun and are eager to agree to a payment plan to obtain a Sun Oven.[1]

[edit] Company details

As populations increase and forests and fossil fuels disappear, the need for an alternative method of cooking around the world is intensifying. Sun Ovens International is committed to providing an alternative.

Sun Ovens International takes a different approach. We have taken a concept that has been around for centuries, and have combined it with more improved materials to make the most effective solar cooking devices in the world. The Sun Oven has been designed to overcome most of the cultural barriers that have restricted the widespread use of the sun for cooking.

The Sun Oven is often compared with box cookers made out of aluminum foil and cardboard (homemade boxes of various sizes and shapes). While the energy conversion principles are the same, the materials utilized in manufacturing Sun Ovens have been carefully researched to include the most efficient materials available. In order to capture the maximum amount of energy, achieve the highest possible temperature, and retain the greatest amount of heat, while minimizing the weight, the materials utilized have been selected based on efficiency and quality. Sun Ovens International is determined to disseminate solar appliances that truly meet people's needs rather than distributing perpetuating cookers that work only under the most ideal conditions.

The initial price of a Sun Oven is higher, but due to its long life, ability to cook on partly cloudy days and allowing food to stay warm for hours, the cost per meal is lower than any other solar cooking device.

[edit] Redefining Cooking

[edit] In the U.S.

The fast-paced American lifestyle has cultivated a fast food approach to cooking and eating; even if it means sacrificing nutrition, taste, health, and the environment. Sun Ovens International is endeavoring to make Americans aware of the enriching health lifestyle and environmental benefits of cooking with the sun.

[edit] Around the World

In the developing world, the high quality and features of the Sun Ovens have overcome the cultural obstacles, which have caused other solar cooking projects to fail. The most often-cited reason for the failure of solar cooking projects is that most people in the developing world work while the sun is out and eat their main meal of the day after sundown. Food cooked in most solar cooking devices must be consumed immediately or it will become cold. The Sun Oven is very well insulted, which allows food cooked in the afternoon sun to stay warm until it is ready to be consumed later in the evening.

Another reason solar cooking has not been widely accepted is that most solar cookers require more time to cook than cooking over a wood fire. Women in developing countries are reluctant to start cooking many hours earlier than they are accustomed to accommodate a new cooking method. The Sun Oven has been designed to cook in the same amount of time as cooking over a traditional three stone wood fire. NGO's which have worked with Sun Ovens have found they have had an easier time getting people to use them because the ovens work so well and maintain cooking temperatures significantly higher than other types of solar devices.

Unfortunately, to be able to make a solar appliance that women will use for the majority of their cooking involves cost. Sun Ovens International is working to overcome the cost by assembling the ovens in the country they will be used and by allowing women to pay for the ovens over time via small weekly installment payments using money they are currently spending to buy charcoal or other cooking fuels.

Sun Ovens International manufactures two types of solar ovens that are widely respected around the world. Since their introduction in 1986, these ovens have cooked millions of meals, baked countless loaves of bread and saved millions of tons of wood.

Diverse peoples use Sun Ovens around the world for many and varied reasons. Sun Ovens have been adopted by everyone:

  • From governments in developing countries looking for solutions to deforestation - to North American families looking for a way to bake without heating up their kitchens.
  • From women in the rain forests of Africa who can't find wood to cook with - to deer hunters in North America who love moist venison.
  • From Americans concerned with power disruptions and increasing fuel costs - to Pakistani women who cannot afford the high cost of fuel to make their dinner.
  • From ice fishermen in Minnesota baking their catch on a frozen lake - to desert dwellers in Kuwait baking lamb.
  • From RV enthusiasts looking for fresh moist roasts - to environmentalists trying to preserve the planet for future generations.
  • From micro-bakeries in Honduras making bread and pastries - to an orphanage in Uganda feeding hundreds daily.

The one thing they all have in common is that they have all discovered… solar energy is the least polluting and most inexhaustible of all known energy sources and it is free.

SUN OVENS® are the foremost and most effective solar cooking devices available anywhere in the world.

[edit] History of the Sun Oven

Sun Ovens were developed in 1986 by Tom Burns, a retired restaurateur from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was very active with Rotary International. From his experience in operating restaurants he knew a great deal about cooking and from his international travel he became aware of the ever-growing problem of deforestation. Tom took a concept that has been around for centuries and engineered into it more recently developed materials to produce the world’s most effective solar cooking devices. With the help of the Sandia National Laboratories the oven was refined.

From 1986 to 1997 Sun Ovens were made and marketed by Burns Milwaukee, Inc. Thousands of portable models have been shipped to more than 126 countries around the globe. Sun Ovens have helped feed refugees in relocation camps, natives in remote Third World villages, workers at field sites, climbers on the slopes of Mount Everest, and soldiers during the Persian Gulf War.

In 1998 Sun Ovens International, Inc. was formed and the manufacturing was moved from Milwaukee to Elburn, IL (40 miles west of Chicago). Sun Ovens International, Inc. has expanded the use of the ovens by making them more widely available in the U.S. and around the world. Assemble plants to make Sun Ovens have been established in a number of developing countries to reduce the cost of the ovens and shipping to the people that need them the most. While thousands of ovens have been sent around the world, there are still more than 2 billion people who cook with wood and charcoal and as populations increase so will the need for Sun Ovens.

[edit] Contact

Sun Ovens International Inc.
39W835 Midan Drive
Elburn, IL 60119 USA

Tel: +1 (630) 208-7273 or Toll Free: +1 (800) 408-7919
Fax: +1 (630) 208-7386
sunovens@execpc.com
http://www.sunoven.com

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