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Last edited: 4 May 2020
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 The Lightoven III, designed by Hartmut Ehmler, is explained at a training event for Pakistani Boy Scouts in January 2015.
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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 Pakistan
News[]
Pakistani Scouts are interviewed during the solar cooking demonstration - Photo credit: Scouts go Solar Newsletter
- October 2018: Scouts demonstrate solar cookers - Pakistani Scouts were interviewed on the Pakistan Television Network (PTV) at a solar cooking demonstration designed to illustrate how the Pakistani Boy Scouts Association is promoting sustainable solar thermal cooking. Read more about the demonstration in April news at: Scouts go Solar, Issue no. 3: January - July 2018
Muhammad Hassaan, an engineering student from Pakistan builds a solar concentrator as part of his final school project. - GoSol.org
- July 2015: Muhammad Hassaan, an engineering student from Pakistan, builds a GoSol.org solar concentrator as part of his final school project. With help from two other teammates, they have designed a hybrid solar and biomass power generation system. Read more...
The Lightoven III, designed by Hartmut Ehmler, is explained at a training event for Pakistani Boy Scouts. - Hartmut Ehmler
- January 2015: Pakistani Boy Scouts are introduced to solar cooking - Hartmut Ehmler photographed this Boy Scout training event of his Lightoven III solar panel cooker. It is a lightweight portable design, suitable to take into the field for camping.
- July 2014: New Pakistani solar cooks will need more support - Applied Green Technology reports that a great deal of training and support will be needed to help the new solar cooks there adapt their normal recipes to their new solar panel cookers. Read more...
- June 2014: Applied Green Technology reports that 1,000 of its new waterproof CooKit-style solar cookers have just been distributed to the Thar Desert Region of by the Lady Fatemah Trust.
- May 2014: Amir Karim, Chairman of the UK charity, Lady Fatemah Trust (LFT), reports that his organization continues to purchase and ship CooKits to needy populations around the world. Recently LFT sent 2,500 solar cookers to Pakistan along with a volunteer trainer from Cyprus. Trainees will work in Pakistani villages where wood and cow dung are typically used for cooking. LFT has also shipped 550 CooKits to Tanzania. In Iraq, where LFT is currently distributing solar lights, they will also be supplying desert villages with solar cookers and training.
- March 2014: Three-year anniversary of the introduction of the CooKit and HotPot Solar cooking advocate, Afzal Syed, continues his efforts to spread solar cooking technology in Pakistan. He has recently met with the Chambers of Commerce, professional woman's organizations, and was interviewed on Dunya television. Watch the interview
History[]
Pakistan hosted one of the larger privately sponsored solar cooking programs ever carried out. A British-based organization, SERVE (Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises), began work with refugees from Afghanistan in 1980. The previous year, after the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan, nearly 3 million refugees had fled to Pakistan, principally to the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan. The population was made up of largely illiterate rural people, most of whom had lived near the border with Pakistan. A variety of relief and educational programs were offered to the group as they settled in for what turned out to be a lengthy stay in refugee camps.
In 1983, SERVE conducted a survey to assess what the refugees felt to be their most urgent needs. Performed professionally with assistance from UN experts, the survey's results revealed the greatest felt need was for assistance in obtaining cooking fuel. The area had 300 sunny days a year and it thus appeared to SERVE staff that solar cooking would be useful. Devices that were within their financial reach and adequate training in solar usage would be essential, however. Initially, a small pilot project was conducted in one camp with 50 families. These pioneers were each loaned a cooker and taught to use it. The ovens were similar to those in use in India, boxes with glass top and a mirror reflector.
At the end of the project, 80% of the families wanted to purchase the cooker. A few modifications, based on experience from the the pilot program, were made in the device, including making the cookers slightly larger larger and using shiny mylar rather than mirrored glass for the reflector. The cost of the boxes ranged between $60 and $70, which was more than refugees could afford so donor assistance was found to partially subsidize the cost, with refugees paying around $18. A small workshop made the cookers, and supply was able to keep up with demand. Satisfied users of these cookers were their best advertisement.
Eventually, the refugees felt able to begin the trek homeward, after political events changed the situation in Afghanistan. Many took their ovens along, and by that action advertised solar cooking to new audiences. Demand was high enough that a shipment of 780 ovens was sent to Kabul, Afghanistan and sold out, from the back of the truck in a marketplace, in five days. Demand in Afghanistan was higher even than in Pakistan, perhaps due to the ever-present danger from unexploded mines in fields and growing shortages of wood.
By 2000, SERVE donors were suffering from "donor fatigue" and, although there was still demand in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the solar program was ended. (See Afghanistan.) Between 1985 and 2000, SERVE distributed around 20,000 solar cookers in the area.
Solar cooking did not, however, disappear in Pakistan after the SERVE program ended. In 2003, The Building and Construction Improvement Programme, a Project of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, began workin remote areas of Northern Pakistan. The project introduced a number of energy efficient and renewable devices, including a line of solar cookers. Like the SERVE model, the project chose to use a box model. Construction materials were selected on the basis of availability in the area with provisions built-in for replacement of the glass box top.
Master Fazal ur-Rehman of Kundian City in the Punjab, indicates that he has built a number of types of cookers (SCI Rev., Jul 02).
- Main article: History of solar cooking
Archived articles
Climate and culture[]
Solar Cookers International has rated Pakistan as the #3 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). In 2020, the number of people in Pakistan, a country with abundant sun but fuel scarcity, is estimated to be 45,400,000.
According to Afzal Syed writing in April 2011: "The rising cost of fuel in Pakistan is becoming more of a problem for Pakistanis. People spend 100 Rupees (USD 1.18) or more a day on cooking fuel. (A bit over 20% of per capita income) Some can’t afford enough to cook all their meals. He sees the CooKit as a wonderful alternative fuel."
See also
- The climate of Pakistan - Wikipedia
- Pakistan Energy Situation - Energypedia
- Promoting solar cooking in Afghanistan (Detailed report discussing the choice of solar cookers for use in Afghanistan based on cultural, economic, and logistical considerations. Much of the discussion would be applicable to Pakistan as well.)
Resources[]
Possible funding[]
Facebook groups[]
- Solar Cooking Pakistan
- Pakistan Renewable Energy Society
- Sunny Solutions
- Asasah, a partner of Save the Children
Reports[]
- January 2016: Solar Thermal Technologies in Pakistan - Practical Action
- February 2009: Why Not Manufacture Solar Systems in Pakistan - Azfar Ali Khan
- Promoting solar cooking in Afghanistan (Detailed report discussing the choice of solar cookers for use in Afghanistan based on cultural, economic, and logistical considerations. Much of the discussion would be applicable to Pakistan as well.)
Project evaluations[]
- October 1996: The Experience of UNHCR and its Partners with Solar Cookers in Refugee Camps - UNHCR-Geneva
- Main article: Project evaluations
Articles in the media[]
- March 2018: National Environment Mela Held At Ayub National Park - UrduPoint
- July 2015: Solar Cookers - Pakistan Today
- March 2015: Innovate this: Fry a sunny-side up with the power of the sun - The Express Tribune
- September 2010: Solar Nest, an idea for providing cheap, clean water for Pakistan - Innovations
Audio and video[]
July 2017:
March 2011:
See Also[]
- Concrete Solar Concentrator - A cooker designed by a Pakistani student
External links[]
- [http://www.pres.org.pk/category/re-technologies/solar-energy/solar-thermal/solar-cookers/
- Wikimedia Commons Atlas of Pakistan
Solar cookers] - Pakistan Renewable Energy Society
Construction plans in Urdu[]
Contacts[]
The entities listed below are either based in Pakistan, or have initiated solar cooking projects there:
SCI Associates[]
- Main article: Solar Cookers International Association