Orjabox

Last edited: 3 October 2022

Vishakha Chandhere, Orjabox, 9-27-22 — *Photo credit: Orjabox*

Orjabox was launched in 2018 by Vishakha Chandhere from her city of Pune, Maharashtra, in India. First, wishing to beat the rising prices of cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), She began cooking for her family using three various types of solar cookers. Her parabolic solar cooker works well in full sunlight and is able to reach high temperatures. The evacuated tube cooker, with its highly insulated cooking chamber, works better in cloudy conditions, and the solar box cooker, though it takes one to two hours to warm up, she feels is suited for all conditions.

Since rotis do not cook well on solar cookers, she uses a biogas stove. “I have a portable biogas digester which provides enough methane by decomposing just 2 kg of food waste,” she said. An engineer by education, Chandhere has worked in the environment and clean energy sector. She began experimenting with clean cooking to find sustainable alternatives to expensive LPG cylinders.

She launched Orjabox to share the lessons she had learned, and to promote clean cooking devices. The company conducts sessions on eight clean cooking devices, including solar cookers, a biochar steam cooker that uses charcoal derived from agricultural waste and a rocket cookstove, a smokeless chulha that uses firewood. Chandhere has also begun to sell biomass and biochar briquettes, along with solar-dried onion, tomato, mint and ginger. “Other people can do their own experiments to generate additional income,” she said.

Orjabox regularly hosts workshop demonstrations at the Rupa Rahul Bajaj Center for Environment and Arts in Pune, as well as online awareness sessions. They are able to tailor the right sustainable cooking equipment program for individuals and for commercial facilities as well.