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Last edited: 29 April 2021
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 Canelo de Nos workshop participants in El Salvador display the solar box cookers they have constructed.
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Events[]
Featured international events[]
- NEW: 11-22 November 2024 (Baku, Azerbaijan ): COP29 - The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP29, will be the 29th United Nations Climate Change conference to be held at Baku Stadium. More information...
- 12-14 March 2025 (Bridgetown, Barbados): Sustainable Energy for All Global Forum - Building on Prime Minister Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative for the reform of development finance, the Forum will address the challenge of how we can mobilize sufficient finance on the right terms to meet global goals, especially for the most underserved communities, countries and regions – such as Small Island Developing States. The event wil be co-hosted by Sustainable Energy for All and the Government of Barbados, led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. Project site visits will take place Friday, 14 March. More information...
Requests for proposal[]
- The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15th December 2024 - Advances in Solar Thermal Food Processing (CONSOLFOOD2025) is being planned for the 5th, 6th and 7th of May, 2025 in Marseille, France. The gathering expects to attract, once again, top experts from all over the world to present and discuss topics related to advances in solar food processing and solar cooking. An exhibition of solar cookers will be available for viewing during the conference at the nearby the solar restaurant Le Présage. The solar restaurant, along with the demonstration cookers, will produce a solar lunch. The whole conference program will be delivered in hybrid format, so those who register, but are not present at Marseille, will be able to participate online. Your abstracts should be sent via email to Celestino Ruivo at cruivo@ualg.pt in .doc, .docx, or pdf format. You should limit your abstract to 400 words, and follow these guidelines. All abstracts will be reviewed and assessed by members of the scientific committee. The organizing committee will inform each author whether their submitted abstract has been accepted. The committee encourages all authors to write an optional full length paper for inclusion in our conference proceedings. Successful authors should pre-record their presentations, using Powerpoint, or similar software. They will be invited to submit either a) a short presentation, of about 7 minutes duration, or b) a longer presentation, of about 25 minutes to cruivo@ualg.pt by 30th March 2025. The expected conference fee is 200 euros before 1st April 2025. Interested people facing financial difficulties should contact the organizing committee.
- See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in El Salvador
News[]
María Luz Rodríguez prepares lasagne in her solar box oven in El Salamar, Photo credit: Inter Press Service
- March 2021: After Tropical Storm Stan hit Central America in 2005, a small emergency fund reached El Salamar two years later, which eventually became the start of a much more ambitious sustainable development project that ended up including more than 600 families. Solar ovens and improved combustion cookstoves emerged as important components of the program. The project was financed through the Global Environment Facility‘s GEF Small Grants Programme. Read the article.
Canelo de Nos workshop participants in El Salvador display the solar box cookers they have constructed.
- November 2016: Oscar Núñez Martínez, Director of Canelo de Nos, reports they are working with the GEF Small Grants Programme and Fondo Chile to introduce solar cookers, improved combustion stoves, and retained heat cookers to a vulnerable population in El Salvador. The results have been encouraging. So far 260 solar ovens have been self-built. For participating families, this means that they are now only spending $7 per month on cooking fuel instead of $30.
- April 21-23 2010: International Workshop about Safe Water and Hygiene Habits for the Home to be held in San Salvador, El Salvador. The event is sponsored by La Fundación SODIS. See here for workshop announcement and course description (both in Spanish). See SODIS for more information describing the solar disinfection technique.
- April 2007: Solar Household Energy, Inc.'s 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.
- January 2007: Participants in the El Salvador HotPot program launch in November were amazed at how easy it was to use the HotPot to prepare chicken, vegetables, rice, and plantains. A solar cooking calendar log will be used to document their activities with the HotPot. Details about the launch are available here.
- November 2006: A group led by Herbert Aguilar and Dr. Antonio Gonzalez is developing a workshop for building and teaching about solar cookers. They plan to begin with solar box cookers targeted for lower income families, but hope to add parabolic-type solar cookers to be sold to families of higher incomes. The new workshop is located at kilometer 6 on the Carretera Planes de Renderos, with activities initially set for Saturday mornings. Contact: Herbert Aguilar
- November 2006: SHE's Latin America Programs Director, Camille McCarthy, traveled to El Salvador to conduct pilot project solar cooking training sessions with Feed the Children and Asociación Comunitaria Unida por el Agua y la Agricultura. During a two week period, SHE, FTC, and ACUA conducted seven trainings where 100 women learned how to use the HotPot. Presently, the women’s groups are participating in the follow-up program. The NGO program coordinators conduct group meetings every two weeks where the women can share their HotPot solar cooking experiences.
History[]
This nation is another of those in which solar cooking activity is based on the model known as PROCESSO, developed in Central American countries with the assistance of American Bill Lankford. The project was started in the southern part of El Salvador, in an area where refugees who had been living in Nicaragua during a period of civil strife, were housed after repatriation. Women, who are, of course, the cooks, were taught how to build wooden box cookers and to use them. Cookers were built by teams of women, continuing until one had been built for each member of the group. Later, each of the new solar oven owners assisted in teaching others how to make and build ovens for themselves. The method of technology transfer has proven to be effective though time consuming and therefore costly. (COSENI Case Study, 1996).
In the early 2000s, a number of students from a San Salvador high school built a variety of solar cookers, a parabolic, a box booker and a solar panel device, as a science project. The cookers generated considerable enthusiasm and the students next conducted demonstrations in poor neighborhoods.
- Main article: History of solar cooking
Archived articles
Climate and culture[]
In El Salvador, approximately 65% of the population uses wood to cook, and the practice contributes significantly to deforestation and negative health impacts for women and children including respiratory infections and burns. Furthermore, firewood collection imposes significant time burdens and cooking gas purchase causes extreme financial hardships.
El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America with approximately 6.6 million inhabitants. Although it is not as densely populated, Guatemala has a larger population of 12.4 million. Both countries are growing fast: each has a fertility rate of 3.58 to 4.5 children per woman and a corresponding average growth rate of 2% to 2.6% per year. Approximately 75% of the population relies on burning wood to cook which causes enormous strain on the environment, the economy and on individual health. And it is against the law to cut down a tree.
El Salvador has suffered 92% loss of its forest cover and currently experiences a deforestation rate of 4.1% per year. In Guatemala, forest cover loss is around 66% with a 2% annual deforestation rate. The heavy use of fuel wood for cooking contributes significantly to ongoing deforestation. As the forests disappear, the lives of the people who depend on wood for cooking fuel become more difficult.
For instance, women and girls are responsible for procuring fuel wood and they must travel farther from home as wood becomes more scarce. This task demands 9 to 20 hours per week and minimizes opportunities to attend school and participate in income-generating activities. In other areas, it is no longer feasible to gather wood. Families in these areas can spend up to 25% of their income to purchase fuel wood.
In addition to the negative environmental and economic impact of fuel wood dependence, women and children suffer from health problems caused by cooking inside small, enclosed kitchens that often lack windows or other ventilation. Women and children inhale toxic smoke for hours a day, the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes a day, according to the WHO.
In order to save the trees, reforestation efforts are necessary. But El Salvador can supplement its income by producing Stevia if this agriculture is concurrent with reforestation.
See also:
- The climate of El Salvador - Wikipedia
- El Salvador Energy Situation - Energypedia
- Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables
Resources[]
Possible funders[]
Facebook groups[]
Reports[]
Articles in the media[]
Audio and video[]
External links[]
Contacts[]
The entities listed below are either based in El Salvador, or have initiated solar cooking projects there:
SCI Associates[]
- Main article: Solar Cookers International Association