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AFRICA AND HER PROBLEM
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| This is a very interesting article from Femi Awobusuyi, Nigeria In the past, the main reason for people adopting solar cooking was to reduce the environmental degradation caused by using too much fuel wood. More recently, respiratory diseases caused by toxic smoke from cooking fires have been recognized as a major health problem. They kill 1.5 million women and children each year according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Solar cookers address these major threats to health as well. Solar cooking technology has been around for decades, but has been poorly understood and has not been widely disseminated. Here are some ideas on what solar cooking is about and its capabilities as well as its limitations. Overcoming barriers to acceptance Solar energy was promoted as an alternative cooking fuel from the 1980s. Two principal barriers blocked its initial acceptance, however: Cultural resistance People have used wood to cook since the inception of the domestic fire. Acceptance of solar cooker for a change as cooking with solar energy can only happen where there is real need. With ever-increasing desertification on one hand and population increases on the other, the need is growing rapidly. The other initial barrier to solar cooking’s broad acceptance was the indifferent quality and/or high cost of available solar cooking equipment, and the lack of experience personnel introducing it. Today, several efficient solar cookers are available at relatively modest cost; experience has sharpened advocates understanding of how to achieve cultural acceptance. Where is solar cooking practical? A major requirement of solar cooking is, of course, plenty of sun. The US space agency, NASA, created a data base for those wishing to cook with solar energy. This database helps people determine where there is adequate sunshine. The term “insolation” is a measure of the amount of sunshine and thus is a measure of how much energy is available for solar cooking. As a technical rule of thumb, monthly insolation should exceed 4 KHz/ meter squared/day on average, to merit consideration for solar cooking promotion. Another requirement for successful introduction of solar cooking is the pressing need for alternative energy. (Places in the world where solar cooking is done as a matter of preference is few. They occur where there is a well-educated population and rising prices of traditional biomass fuels.) Otherwise, the greatest demand is where biomass fuel shortages are most severe. Considerations of health should one day become another strong incentive. Solar cooking seasons are much longer and the need for alternative energy generally much more urgent in tropical and semi-tropical areas. These include most of Africa, South Asia, Australasia, Central and Northern South America. Solar cooking may also be a useful alternative in Africa For example, for eight months of the year solar cooking is practicable in far northern part of Nigeria There, critical shortage of household energy could make its adoption nation wide Benefits to health Here are some health problems, apart from respiratory diseases, and ways in which solar energy is being used to alleviate them: Polluted drinking water Training in their use to pasteurize water, an immediate and lasting reduction of endemic water-borne diseases like guinea worm. Glaucoma Glaucoma is the name for a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve is damaged at the point where it leaves the eye. This is identified as a major health problem, and it is believed that people are considerably more at risk when exposed to toxic smoke. The danger from open fires Thousands of small children are maimed each year through falling into cooking fires. For example the Burn Unit of the Red Cross, ranging from newborn babies to 13-year-old children (Children’s Hospital Trust). Violence Wherever there is political unrest, as in Darfur and Somalia now, women are at high risk of rape and murder when they leave their villages to for age for fuel wood. And, because of the environmental degradation caused by this practice, they have to go even far to find it. Insufficient and unsafe diet Increasingly, the diets of people in the developing world are being adversely affected by shortages of fuel wood. Improving food safety, through making it cheaper and easier to cook food so that it contains less pathogens, can improve health. In some places, people are forced to barter some of their limited food supplies to obtain fuel with which to cook the rest. Reducing the cost of fuel increases money for food. Cultural acceptance of solar cooking There are very large numbers of reports of uses of, and demands for, solar cookers. For example, we have letters from village officials in Bolivia pleading for more solar cookers; similar letters from women’s groups in Senegal; the assertions of Haitian women that they often solar cook two meals a day; pictures of a solar restaurant in northern Chile, and so on. In addition, there are scientific evaluations of solar cooking education and distribution programs. For example: In 1995, Solar Cookers International conducted a training program at the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. In 1998, the program was evaluated. A random sampling of the women who had been trained three years before continued to solar cook 54% of their meals. A similar evaluation conducted at the Aisha refugee camp in Ethiopia in 2001 determined that fuel wood usage in the camp was down 32% following the introduction of solar cookers. In 2005, an evaluation was completed in a series of Bolivian villages. It assessed promotions conducted by David and Ruth Whitfield in preceding years. It found that solar cooking families had reduced their fuel expenses 40% in the dry season and 35% in the wet season. Unlike photovoltaic solar devices that convert solar energy to electricity, passive ones simply catch solar energy and convert it directly to heat. They are much simpler and much less costly. Other ?passive? solar devices contributing to good health include: Food driers, through-the-wall solar ovens permitting access from indoors, autoclaves which sterilize equipment for rural hospitals, and ovens that can burn medical waste. In India there is a giant solar oven, designed by Wolfgang Scheffler, which cooks for 20,000 pilgrims a day! The fuel, of course, is free. The utility of a solar cooking device should be judged by what it can do in the location in which it is set to work. In the right location, it can reduce exposure to toxic smoke, protect from the dangers of fire, and improve women’s quality of life. It can also reduce fuel costs and alleviate stress on the environment. What solar cookers won’t do is cook in the dark, or under overcast or rainy skies. (Thus, it will not pre pare one’s morning tea unless, of course, one stays in bed till very late!)Many people say that solar cooked food is better because little or no water needs to be added, which would other wise dilute the taste. Try it and see. Frequently asked questions Growing realization of a need for alternative ways to cook has stimulated new interest in solar ovens. Here are answers to some of the things people want to know: How fast does it cook? Many things affect cooking speed: closeness to the Equator, altitude, time of year, time of day, weather conditions, and type of food. To give some idea, assume you need about twice as long as if cooking over flame. (However, when the time required to obtain fuel wood and tend the fire are considered, solar ovens demand less of the cook’s time.) Solar-cooked food will not burn on the bottom of the pan, so stirring is unnecessary. Pots require no scrubbing, nor are they covered with soot. Furthermore, solar energy in the tropics and at high altitudes is so powerful that cooking speed is not necessarily an important issue. Considerations of simplicity, durability, ease of use, pleasant appearance, and low cost are considered of comparable importance. How quickly will it boll water? Parabolic solar ovens can do that in a matter of minutes. Box and panel ovens take longer ? but will in fact boil water. It should be noted that cooking does not even require boiling in most cases ? food cooks at 82C, and water is pasteurized at only 65C. What if the main meal is eaten after dark? There is an elegant solution. It used to be called the ?hay box? but today, the more descriptive ?retained heat cooker? or ?fireless cooker?. It is simply a container lined with insulation in which a pot of cooked food can be kept hot for several hours. It was once in common use in Europe and the U.S. How do you solar cook in the early morning or when the sky is overcast? You don’t. Solar cookers can be an important, sometimes main, means of cooking, but never the only one. There must be another way to cook, and low-emission, fuel-efficient stoves are best. However, it is as unnecessary to burn fuel under a blazing sun as it is foolish to deploy a solar cooker at night. How can people cook when there isn’t any sun? They have to use combustible fuels. The percentage of time a solar oven can be used varies widely with factors like weather, skill of the cook, and the urgency of the need. (The GTZ conducted a solar cooking project in South Africa and concluded that solar cookers were used an overall average of 40% of the time. Solar cookers will never be THE solution. They are an important addition to the kitchens of the world. What are the problems associated with solar cooking? With some cookers, even though tough, tempered glass is usually used, there is the possibility of breakage. This danger must be compared to the risks presented by open fires. There is a possibility of a burn if the black cooking pot used for solar cooking is touched while hot; but this is true of any cooking pot. There is no danger of burns from the other components of solar cookers. There are undoubtedly places where it is inadvisable to leave a solar cooker unattended because of animals or children or thieves or, as has been suggested to us, poison. The same problems confront those who cook outdoors over three stone fires. We know of no solution but to keep an eye on the cooker from a shady place nearby. Are solar ovens affordable in the developing world? Not by the people who need them the most virtually nothing is. However, there are now durable, efficient modern designs which can retail for $50 or less. There are continuing efforts to reduce that cost further. Creative financing will always be necessary to achieve the widest possible distribution. This includes micro banking, lay away plans, barter arrangements and subsidies. And since solar energy is free, people eventually pay for their ovens with the money they have saved by reducing their need for traditional fuels. Review of poverty elevation with reference to alternative energy With reference to the problem of solving economic and social problems in Africa We should look into the power sector of the people in Africa. A situation were there is no power supply by the public grid to the villages and local communities in Africa, we view that if there is electric energy to power their pumping machine for irrigation, water systems and lights in the community, homes and also in hospitals to preserve vaccinations and drugs. These will reduce poverty level in Africa economy and also prevent urban migration and deforestation of the forest rich trees. The need to implement alternative source of power generation in such areas have now come to lime lights so that all the efforts of government, NGO’s, foundations, missionaries and private donors will be meaningful. We will like to bring to your notice that there is an urgent need to look into this sector of alternative energy as a means of poverty eradication process in Africa to combat diseases, improve food production and welfare of the people. This has brought to our investment, development in the area of alternative energy (both solar and wind), since we have abundance of such resources in Africa. We will like your organization to look in the vision with us and view the vision with us and view the best way to save millions of people from hunger, deforestation, diseases and global urban migration. We will like to hear your view and concern on the implementation of alternation energy to improve agriculture and health facilities of poor and hunger ravaging communities in Africa. Alternative Energy can be used to improve: • Agriculture- Solar or wind power irrigation system. • Health- Solar refrigerators to preserve vaccination • Social well been- Street lights, house lights and the rest. Our main objectives are the agricultural and health needs of the people in Africa. We hope to hear positive reply on this as we will like to partner with you to achieve these aims and obligations to the poor African communities. Regards, Femi Awobusuyi Project Manager BETSAM ENG. SUPP. & SERV. 12, IDOWU LANE, IKEJA, LAGOS, NIGERIA EMAIL US @ Information: info@betsamsolar.info Support: support@betsamsolar.info |
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