From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 10/13/02
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 21:29:00 -0700 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com> Subject: Solar Cookers Message-ID: <20021013212900.C15544@bootstrap.sculptors.com>
I just ran into a small article in a local newspaper that discusses the use
of solar cookers for food preparation, firewood fuel/burning reduction, and
sterilization of water for people around the world.
Some of the numbers are startling, and really caught my eye:
Solar cookers save rainforests and
ease work of millions of women
From Solar Coolers International
Solar Solar Cookers International (SCI) goal is that
2,400,000,000 people will soon be aware of solar
cookers and at least 1% (24 million people) will have
access to them. This would save 4 million tons of
firewood and reduce emissions of 6.7 million tons of
carbon dioxide per year.
SCI relies on member contributions for funding. A
basic membership is $40. To join and to order cookers
and literature, contact Solar Cookers International at
1919 21st St. Ste 101 Sacramento CA 95814. Ph: 916-
455-4499 Fax: 916-455-4498 Website:
http://solarcooking.org/ Email: info_at_solarcoolers.org
The World Health Organization estimates 80% of
illnesses are spread by contaminated water. It's unsafe
to drink water containing heavy metals, herbicides,
pesticides and other harmful chemicals. However, it's
safe to drink pasteurized water not containing these
substances. Pasteurization kills parasites, germs and
viruses. Solar cookers make it possible for millions of
people to pasteurize water without fuel.
The WAPI (Water Pasturization Indicator)
is a small glass tube containing wax.
It's tied to a string and put in the water jar in the solar
cooker. When the wax flows to the bottom of the
WAPI, the water has been heated to pasteurization
temperature and is safe to drink
Solar cookers can also be vented and used to dry
food for storage in areas without refrigeration.
They're also useful in developed nations during
power shortages and other emergencies threaten-
ing food and water purity.
I've know about the existence of solar cookers for years, and the existence
of lots of sun in many third world countries with poor water quality, but I
never really put 2 and 2 together. It's such a simple idea that it seems to
falls below the radar.
The http://solarcooking.org/ site looks very cool. LOTS (I mean LOTS!) of
information, documentation, cookbooks, instructions, patterns, kits, and
other stuff. It looks like a hobbiest/do-it-yourselfer's dream, and gives
lots of suggestions on how to make cheap/free cookers. (You can also
purchase pre-made kits from them for $20 and the WAPI device for $5.)
Your purchase of a $20 kit allows them to supply a complete kit to a family
of Kenyan refugees, too.)
Here's another bit from their page, about the work with Refugee camps:
Solar Cookers International (SCI) has been sponsoring extensive solar
cooking work in Kenyan refugee camps. More than 15,000 families have
attended workshops and returned home with their own solar cooker. Thanks to
a new cooker design, it costs only US$10 to supply each of these families
with a solar cooker, a black pot, a supply of trial food, and instruction
on how to use their new cooker. Follow-up visits have revealed a high level
of use. Families report now that they no longer have to trade their scarce
rations for firewood, and thus have more food left to eat.
I suspect that these things are a no-brainer for inclusion with any future
disaster relief work that we do. There's a link to the Water Pasteurization
section on the main page under the "Documents" section.
I heartily recommend that you take a few minutes to dig through the site.
I'm sure each of us will hit different things and get different ideas, but
there's a lot of food-for-thought there, and some great work being done.
And for folks on the clean-water list, here's another idea we should kick
around: Using solar-collectors and concentrators to provide the heat for
ammonia-absorption or propane-based (or other) refrigeration systems. Then
we could run condensers to pull water out of the air using solar powered
devices as well. I know I mentioned the solar-powered ice making machine
available through Real Goods at some point in the past. This is the same
sort of idea, but tweaked to just generate condensing (below dewpoint)
cold, not freezing cold.
-- Pat ___________________Think For Yourself____________________ Patrick G. Salsbury - http://reality.sculptors.com/~salsbury/ The Reality Sculptors Wiki is at http://reality.sculptors.com/cgi-bin/wiki --------------------------------------------------------- People who think that the internet is just another way to make a quick buck, haven't been on the internet long enough.