Solar Cooking
SearchBox
Last edited: 4 August 2019      
Care and Support Network November 2012-1
McDonald Ganisyeje showing the Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Daniel Liwimbi MP, and other top government officials from the Ministry and Department of National Parks and Wildlife how the solar cookers work.

Events[]

Featured international events[]

COP29 logo, 9-20-24
  • 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...
SEforAll logo, 7-25-24
  • 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[]

CONSOLFOOD 2025 logo, 4-28-24
  • 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 Malawi

News[]

  • October 2015: - In June 2015, United Village Transformation, led by Claudia Sansone, adopted a rural village near Daeyang Luke Hospital in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. The United Village Transformation team opened a preschool and provided agriculture and medical resources to the village. They also distributed several CooKits. Claudia Sansone reports that the villagers were very enthusiastic about the solar cookers and were eager to begin using them.


See older news...

History[]

Be the Change

An unusual sponsor of solar cooking in Malawi has been the non-profit organization, Peace Child International. One of its programs called Be the Change (BTC), challenged young people to make a difference in their communities. In Malawi a portion of youth action work focused on solar cooking. One young man proposed to his colleagues that they make and sell solar cookers as a BTC project. With a very small budget, they did all planning and implementation of the project. By 2001, the group had been able to provide 50 village families with solar cookers in 9 different villages. The group reached out for support from organizations in Germany and Austria, and was also aided in locating reflective materials by a Malawian business, Universal Industries. (Source: Solar Cooker Review, November 2001)

Department of Energy Affairs

A quite different type program in Malawi was reported on at the [[Kimberly meetings]] in South Africa in 2000. The country has excellent solar insolation possibilities, and severe deforestation in some areas. The Department of Energy Affairs has established a Renewable Energy Program, which promoted a range of renewable devices, including solar cookers. Using box cookers sold through a micro-financing scheme, the project intended to establish distribution centers across the country. A private business, the Zako Solar Cookers Industry was the principal manufacturer of ovens, and nongovernmental organizations were assisting in the distribution.

To begin, a national planning workshop was held. Various stakeholders came together to divide up the tasks involved in presenting a series of demonstrations on energy saving measures. Participatory principles were stressed and a choice of optional renewable energy modes offered to people. The foci of the project included both arresting environmental degradation and the reduction of poverty.

Information presented at Kimberly described the program at a very early stage. Follow up to ascertain results of the project had not yet been accomplished. This project, started by governmental initiative, was an important development in Africa, where the bulk of solar cooking work has been done through non-governmental organizations, many from outside the continent (Kimberly, p. 67).

Archived articles

Climate and culture[]

Solar Cookers International has rated Malawi as the #20 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). The estimated number of people in Malawi with fuel scarcity but ample sun in 2020 is 2,700,000.

Malawi has a renewable energy component in its school curriculum.

See also

Resources[]

Possible funding[]

Reports[]

Articles in the media[]

Contacts[]

The entities listed below are either based in Malawi, or have initiated solar cooking projects there:

SCI Associates[]

NGOs[]

Manufacturers and vendors[]

Individuals[]

Government agencies[]

Educational institutions[]