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Last edited: 22 July 2022
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 Solar irradiation map shows the potential for successful solar cooking in Nigeria, Map credit: ESMAP
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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 Nigeria
News[]
- April 2022: Nigeria plans for future energy use - The Nigerian government has signed its climate bill into law emphasizing the need to address climate change in the country. Efforts to promote clean cooking to support Nigeria's climate goals may fall short of desired results if the cost factor of accessing clean cooking fuels is not addressed. For a country that has at least 40% of its population living in poverty, there is a need to explore practical ways to improve the affordability of clean cooking fuels to encourage increased adoption. They are considering a future using subsidized LPG, solar cooking, or a mix of both. Read more...
Combination solar cooker design developed in Nigeria, Photo credit: World Economic Forum
- March 2022: Combination solar cooker design - Nigerian engineers have developed a combination solar box oven-parabolic cooker with a solar tracker. “Cooking by the burning of firewood and other non-environmental and non-eco-friendly fuels is still predominant in most developing countries, especially among the people living in rural areas and some urban cities,” said lead author Dr. Clement A. Komolafe, of Landmark University. “In order to discourage the use of hazardous fuels for cooking, we thought of combining the solar box and parabolic dish types to produce one novel solar cooking system using locally sourced materials.” Read more...
- March 2018: School designs new solar cooker - A Junior Secondary School in Bwari, Abuja has reportedly created a new solar cooker, says John Adikwu, a Basic Science and Technology Teacher at the school. Mr. Adikwu reports that the cooker was developed using local materials with the exception of imported mirrors and glass. The cooker was presented at the 4th edition of the Science and Technology Expo (FESTECH 2018) in Abuja. Read more...
- May 2017: Contribute your data: Drive solar cooking results - Solar cooking contributes to long-term progress from cleaner, more efficient, sustainable cooking solutions worldwide. It is crucial to convey the positive health, economic, and environmental impacts of solar cooking to government agencies and other stakeholders. To help build this case, SCI is reaching out to all solar cooking partners. SCI invites your input in the form of data on baseline information, number and type of solar cookers, number of years of the project, location, outcomes, etc. With your help, we can work to include solar-thermal cooking in national energy and sustainability plans. You provide:
- Number of solar cookers
- Type
- Location
- Time period
- Distributed
- Sold
- Manufactured
- Submit your solar cooking data by filling out the simple form on the Solar Cookers International website or email info@solarcookers.org.
- September 2016: American University of Nigeria students build solar ovens - Some students of Yola, Adamawa State-based American University of Nigeria have devised a wood and electricity-free oven for rural dwellers who depend solely on firewood for cooking usually obtained by felling trees with its attendant consequences on the environment. Instead of felling trees and encouraging desert encroachment, the students decided to make use of the abundant sun in the state. The oven and chicken tractor were fabricated using a design first developed at a Kenyan refugee camp. Talk about bringing something good out of a bad situation! Living up to its billing as Africa's first development university whose aim is to raise future leaders who will impact their communities and the continent positively, the students did not only learn the theories but applied what they learnt in their Community Development class, to make their community safer, more environment-friendly and better life for the people. Working under the supervision of AUN's former Director of Sustainability, Prof. Charles Reith, Mr. Rotimi Ogundijo and Mr. Matthew Abedoh, all of the Sustainability Unit of the university, the students used recycled cardboard, masking tape, glue and aluminium foil to construct the solar ovens. Each oven took them about 45 minutes to construct and it cooks really fast. Read more...
AUN students fabricate solar cookers - pulse.ng
- October 2015: University students fabricate solar cookers for distribution - Professor Charles Reith and students from the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Nigeria, made replicas of the venerable CooKit panel solar cooker, a design created for use in Kenyan refugee camps in the mid-nineties, for distribution to villagers living in nearby communities. According to the team, each cooker took about 45 minutes to make. Read more... - pulse.ng
- April 2015: AFRES moves forward with solar cooking initiative - According to Joseph Odey, Chairman of the Association for the Reduction of Carbon Emission, the initiative is being sponsored at present by the Global Environmental Facility Small Grant Programme, GEF-SGP under the support of UNDP to provide alternative energy source for use in place of firewood in New Bussa community of Niger State. Under the first phase of the project, 50 youths were trained in building solar cookers. Some members of the communities who took part in a demonstration on how the solar cooker works in Tungan Ibrahim, Salamatu Maigari and Salamatu Sale, said using the solar cooker was faster and better than using firewood. Read more... - allAfrica
History[]
Nigeria has a wide range of individual and group supporters of solar cooking. The country was a 1992 stop on a solar promotion tour conducted by Dr. Robert Metcalf, an SCI founder, in which he provided demonstrations in a number of African nations. One organization with which he worked was the Nigerian Society for the Improvement of Rural People. Its leader, Chris Ugwa, reported that around 50 families were regularly using solar cookers to pasteurize water and to cook food.
Another Nigerian, Lydia Gordon Nkan of the Environmental Education Institution reports that her group has taught hundreds of students to make and use solar cookers. Her work was principally in primary and secondary schools, with an ambitious goal of seeing that every household in the country would in coming years be using solar cooking methods. The problem in much of Africa, and true in this case, is the lack of financing for costs like publicity on radio and television, which would create broad awareness and demand. For the poorest part of the population, the cost of even the least expensive cooker is a major hurdle, also true in many other developing nations.
A number of universities in Nigeria have promoted solar cooking, as has the Solar Energy Association of Nigeria. Historically, Rotary Clubs in the country have developed plans to work through the partnering activities of Rotary International to start a large project that could eventually cover a substantial proportion of the country.
In the mid 1990s, a foreign oil company working in Nigeria made an attempt to introduce solar cookers in the communities they were working in. After several years of effort, they conducted an evaluation that did not yield positive results. For the most part, cookers had not been used nor found useful by villagers. It appeared from the evaluation document that relatively little attention had been paid to appropriate training and follow up assistance to new users, a common pattern which is almost certain to lead to less than hoped for results.
The 1992 Presidential Task force on Alternatives to fuelwood recommended the large-scale introduction of biogas technology and solar cookers (as well as the use of coal briquettes, natural gas and kerosene) in order to reduce the share of fuelwood in the energy mix.[1]
In many ways, Nigeria, in at least major parts of its territory, is well suited for solar cooking. An excellent array of supporters exists in the country, many with small scale but persistent programs under way across the country. Nigeria appears to be an excellent candidate for more concentrated promotion.
- Main article: History of solar cooking
Archived articles
- Association for the Reduction of Carbon Emission
- Carole St. Laurent
- Cosmopolitan Women's Club
- Developmental Association for Renewable Energies
- Garden of God Naturestead
- Margaret Koshoni
- Nigeria Solar Energy Association
- Rasheeda Abdulkareem
- Sokoto Energy Research Centre
- Sun Solution
- Vincent Nnanna
- Women in Peace Education and Awareness Initiative
Climate and culture[]
- Solar Cookers International has rated Nigeria as the #5 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 Nigeria with fuel scarcity but ample sun in 2020 is 12,400,000.
- Northern part of the country: Dry, sunny, and scarcely populated.
- Southern part of the country: Rain, abundant firewood, and high population density. (Source: Juan Urrutia Sanz, 25 Feb 2010)
See also
- The climate of Nigeria - Wikipedia
- Nigeria Energy Situation - Energypedia
- Discussion of West-central Africa's suitability for solar cooking
- Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables
According to Oladosu and Adegbulugbe (1994), the energy consuming activities in the sector are cooking, lighting and operation of electrical appliances (non-substitutable electricity). In 1989, the shares of these activities in final energy consumption were 91%, 6% and 3% respectively. Total final energy consumption was 487 PJ. The major energy carriers are fuelwood, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity. Small amounts of charcoal and coal are also used. Fuelwood is mainly consumed in this sector and accounted for over half of total national energy consumption in 1989. A small amount is consumed in rural industries and the commercial sector. This means that fuelwood constitutes about 80% of total residential final energy consumption
Resources[]
Possible funding[]
- Find a Kiva microfinance partner in Nigeria
- Raising funds through grants and donations
- Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO)
Project evaluations[]
- August 2006: Digitally Assisted Diffusion of Innovations - Carole St. Laurent (A case is made to encourage the use of instructional videos made in local languages, over printed materials when introducing solar cooking.)
- August 2005: A Solar Cooking Case Study: Investigating Appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development in Nigeria - Carole St. Laurent (An investigation of using local language videos to introduce solar cooking in Nigeria.)
Documents[]
- January 2018: Thermal Performance Evaluations, Energy Savings, and Payback Periods of a Box-Type Solar Cooker in Ibadan, Nigeria - Ademola K. Aremu, et al
- August 2005: A Solar Cooking Case Study: Investigating Appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development in Nigeria - Carole St. Laurent (An investigation of using local language videos to introduce solar cooking in Nigeria.)
- August 2006: Digitally Assisted Diffusion of Innovations - Carole St. Laurent (A case is made to encourage the use of instructional videos made in local languages, over printed materials when introducing solar cooking.)
- 2004: The Status of Renewable Energy in Nigeria - ECO-OUTREACH
Articles in the media[]
- September 2023: 2023 Summit: Kano ACReSAL Project Coordinator Joins Other Experts at Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi in building solar cooking resilience - Solace Base
- July 2022: Gifts for innovation, from France to Nigeria - Punch
- December 2018: FAO promotes solar, fuel-efficient technologies among internally displaced people in northeastern Nigeria - Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
- April 2018: Abuja Junior School Invents Solar Cooker - PM News
- October 2017: The Avon Ladies of Renewable Energy – Solar Sister Bringing Light & Jobs to African Women - GirlTalkHQ
- October 2015: Students fabricate solar ovens for villagers with Kenya technology - pulse.ng
- April 2015: Nigeria: NGO Wants Solar Cooker for Nigeria - allAfrica
- July 2009: Nigeria’s Epileptic Electricity, Don Advances Permanent Solution - Osun Defender
- July 2008: The Effects of Biomass Burning on Mother Nature - allAfrica.com
External links[]
Audio and Video[]
- April 2008:
Contacts[]
The entities listed below are either based in Nigeria, or have initiated solar cooking projects there:
SCI Associates[]
- Main article: Solar Cookers International Association