Last edited: 9 October 2019
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Vietnam Solar Serve is an organization of volunteers that promotes solar cooking in Vietnam. They support charitable projects and also runs a social green enterprise. The aim of both is to benefit all people, poor and rich, with alternative energy and helping them to use it properly. It will also provide jobs for local and disadvantaged people in building the devices at their Solar Serve center.
Vietnam Solar Serve started in 2000 and has so far provided more than 1750 box and parabolic cookers (updated 2012).
Many people in Vietnam still depend on coal, straw, leaves or wood for cooking. Open fires contribute to air pollution and cause lung and eye diseases owing to people spending time in hot and smoky kitchens. This traditional cooking method also compels women and children to walk for hours each day to find wood for daily cooking.
Vietnam receives 1400-2000 hours of sunshine per year in the north and 2000-3000 hours per year in the central and southern part, but not many people take advantage of solar energy for daily cooking. Only one basic solar cooker is needed to save lives, money, time and even the environment
Since 2000, simple solar cookers for cooking food have been introduced by Solar Serve in Vietnam. 1500 families (updated 2008) have been provided and almost 79% are using these solar cookers frequently. People have been able to save money, time and even improve their health.
The use of solar cookers requires changes in cooking habits, food, and food preparations. Therefore a solar cooking training program was set up by Solar Serve. The aim is to provide teaching and training through workshops, home visits and group meetings.Over the years, local people have progressively adopted solar cooking as an alternative cooking method. Therefore Solar Serve hopes to benefit more people in cooking with free solar energy in the coming years.
News
- July 2019: Solar Serve News #59
- April 2019: Solar Serve News #58
- Januari 2019: Solar Serve News #57
- October 2018: Solar Serve News #56
- Sept 2018:
- April 2018: Solar Serve News #54
- October 2017: Solar Serve News #53
This woman needs help
- July 2017: Solar Serve News #52
- April 2017: Solar Serve News #51
- January 2017: Solar Serve News #50 We made a suggestion to friends in Vietnam that our solar lamp "Light of the World” was available as a Christmas gift to bless families, friends or staff of their organization. We have done this with our own staff and they were very happy with it. The good thing about our lamp is that it is a solid product that can be used for years in comparison to the cheaper ones on the market. The lamps are still available for other occasions to bless people in areas where electricity can be a problem. Even mobile phones (etc.) can be recharged with it.
- November 2016:Solar Serve News #49
Cứu trợ nạn nhân lũ lụt tại Quảng Bình - Relief for flood victims
- September 2016:How to use our new solar lamp This is our latest solar product.]
Solar lamp
- August 2016:New YouTube video clips Please check up our latest YouTube video clips in English and Vietnamese.

- July 2016: Solar Serve News #48
- April 2016: Solar Serve News #47 A man from France came to visit us in Danang. He runs a restaurant in Vung Tau, a popular seaside resort in
- April 2016: A Portable Clean Cookstove Our latest video.*
- January 2016: Solar Serve News #46 The year 2016 is already several days old. Our wish for you is that everything will turn out for good. Don’t give up! Although the world is shaking, we have decided not to hold back. There are still many things to do. We learn from the ants that they refuse to take it easy. They are working hard and storing up against the coming time. We also do not want to just look a few feet in front of us by not preparing for the future. So, here are some goals for the coming year!
- October 2015:
- July 2015: Solar Serve News #44 For 15 years we have been doing charity work and since 2006 we are also running a social enterprise. It was not always easy to work with products depending on the environment. It was sometimes very hard to change the mindset of people. We learned a lot. The turn came when we included the clean cookstoves in our work. It became a good alternative in combination with the parabolic cookers. It improved people’s health, finances but also the environment. This is one of the reasons why we kept on going after 15 years. And thanks to you, that we have never felt alone.
- June 2015: An amazing small clean cookstove This new clean cookstove is a great cooking alternative when there is no sunshine. Just watch the introduction on Youtube.
- April 2015: Solar Serve News #43 Here we are again. In Solar Serve we all have our responsibility and it is good that we can use our talents. Creativity is needed when we meet new challenges. The last few months we have been working together with several other agencies, organizations and social enterprises. It was good to work together. We also received some training and now we are able to pass it on to others. Here are some of the latest stories.
- October 2014: Solar Serve News #42 A middle-aged man came to visit us. In the Vietnamese war he lost his arm during a bomb explosion. It was hard for him to grow up especially when he was young and full of energy. He finally left Vietnam and ended up in Europe. After many years he was able to forgive and wanted to visit his country again. He had to face the wounds of the past but was very courageous and very serious in showing forgiveness. He even offered to help us a few days with one of our designs. It was great to see him working at our center with a passion to help. Very touching!
- July 2014: Solar Serve News #41 We received a letter from Energy Globe, that we as Solar Serve were the national winner of the Energy Globe Award 2014 for Vietnam. With more than 160 participating countries and over 1000 project submissions annually the Energy Globe Award is today's most prestigious environmental prize worldwide. It distinguishes projects regionally, nationally and globally that safeguard resources such as energy or develop renewable or emission-free sources. Unfortunately, we were not able to receive the award, but were honored for this recognition. Read more...
- April 2014: Solar Serve News #40 We are a social enterprise and our purpose is to have an impact in society. We do this by making environmentally friendly equipment for people so that their lives will be changed and improved. Last year we got the impression that we should do more and came up with a plan which started on February 11th and will last for one year. The exciting thing is that it also gives you an opportunity to get involved.
- January 2014: Solar Serve News #39 First of all Happy New Year. We hope it will be a great year. Don’t give up doing good and expecting hard situations to change into wonderful opportunities. Enjoy and love your work so that you never have ‘to work’ again! But if you want to work with us, don’t dream about the weather. Lately, it has been very cold in Danang and even in the northern provinces of Vietnam. Some mountains near Sapa were covered with snow. Unthinkable but everything is possible in Vietnam, so welcome to our world!
- October 2013: Solar Serve News #38 We just finished the Mid-Autumn Festival, with gifts, lanterns, drums, lion dances and special dishes to eat. A very special dish is the moon cake. Companies buy expensive moon cakes for their workers or customers. This year the festival was surrounded by rain and storm, so many children could not participate in it and many moon cakes were left over. For us it was more a start of new excitement, which we would like to share in this letter.
- July 2013: Solar Serve News #37 Every three months Solar Serve writes their newsletter with all their past, present and future activities. This year it was 13 years ago that they officially started Solar Serve. Their first newsletter was written in 2003. At the moment they are preparing themselves for difficult times ahead. It could be for solar aid to anyone and everywhere.
- June 2013:
See and Believe - Thấy và Tin
- April 2013: Solar Serve News #36 Climate change affected Vietnam a few weeks ago when over 10,000 houses were damaged and at least 26 people were injured during a hail storm in the northern Lao Cai province. Hail may fall during the transitional period between dry and wet seasons, but hailstones measuring up to 10 cm in diameter are very rare. It reminded us again that we as Solar Serve should make products in order to protect the environment and also, when a disaster hits the country, we can provide simple and effective solutions. For example: What can be used when there is no water, gas, electricity or other necessities after a disaster? Please share with us your ideas too and we will be happy to think it over.
- April 2013:
Solar Serve 2013 Tài Liệu Mới - New Brochure
- January 2013: Solar Serve News #35 We made more solar cookers and improved some models. We also finished the 150 clean stoves. Our staff left at four o’clock in the morning our Center to two villages near the ancient city of Hue. The truck was fully loaded and people were already waiting for them. After explaining the benefits and usage of the stoves to the people and farmers, the local authorities were able to hand out the stoves. They were sponsored by a organisation involved in health, gender and climate programs. A great way to help people. People were so thankful. Not long after we received another order and felt that the clean stoves are a good replacement, when it is raining and a solar cannot be used. The weight is 4 kg and the cost is reasonable (around 25 US dollars). This is a great way for organizations to help poor people in cooking clean, protecting their health and the environment, and also save money in fuel costs.
- November 2012:
Clean Cooking Stoves for Vietnamese farmers - November 2012
- October 2012: Vietnam Solar Serve explains how they have incorporated clean cookstoves with solar cooking to better serve local cooks. Till now it has been a good year for us and we are excited for the new things to come. In our 34th newsletter we mainly tell about our new challenge and show you some pictures, besides our ongoing solar cooker projects.
- August 2012:
GUST Project - Solar Serve - Danang (Vietnam)
- July 2012: Solar Serve News #33 After winning the CSIP award in 2011, a lot of things changed and a whole new scale of support and advice came together with it. A consultant encouraged us to design a new cooker which can be used for boiling water. This seems to be the greatest need at the moment. As a result we redesigned several models and will test them in the coming months.
- April 2012: Solar Serve News #32
- April 2012: Vietnam Solar Serve has provided a recent video tour of their
Making Solar Cookers and more in Vietnam (Danang) .wmv
Design and manufacturing
- Box cookers: In partnership with Dutch organization Solar Cooker Workgroup Sliedrecht NL, we have developed a new lightweight solar box cooker for use in Vietnam. The previous SLS solar box cooker was made from wood, which was increasing difficult to purchase in Vietnam. The new cooker is made from aluminum sheets that are shaped using two molds, one for the inner box and one for the outer box. It weights only 12 kg.See also: Solar Serve box cooker-
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Two molds are used for the inner and outer box of the new solar box cooker |
- Parabolic cookers: Besides making our present parabolic cooker, we have been asked to design a parabolic cooker easy for transport. We used the same mold of our present parabolic cooker (1.30m) and divided it in four parts. It took some time, but we came up with the cooker you see in the pictures below. We also made the stand foldable. The new four-part parabolic cooker is working well and weights only 23 kg. It fits in 100 x 80 x 20 cm carton boxes, which is good for transport. The deaf workers were very excited when we got some orders from Canada and Holland. See also: Solar Serve parabolic cooker-
Parabolic disc in four parts. A foldable stand. Weight: 23 kg. Fits in a 100 x 80 20 cm carton box |
- Box cookers and parabolic cookers are available upon request.
History
- History- Brief Solar Serve history in pictures
Photo gallery
- Photo gallery- Solar Serve photo gallery
Audio and video
- September 2018:
- YouTube - Solar Serve's YouTube channel
- Solar Serve Video clips- Solar Serve video clips
- 2007:
See also
Solar Serve publications
- Solar Serve News- Solar Serve Newsletters
- English - Vietnamese - Dutch - Solar Serve fliers for printing
External links
- Vietnam Solar Serve Website: Vietnamese and English version
- Bich's story: Unlikely partners develop solar cooker for the poor
- March 2008: Reducing black carbon - Solar Serve and Solar Cookers Internatinal - Global warning video clip
- June 2007: 1,200 solar energy cookers for remote areas - Peoples Army Daily
- April 2007: VN-Video 2, VN-Video 3 - Vietnamese video clips
- July 2006: An audio interview with Solar Serve director Nguyen Tan Bich discussing the work of his group
- November 2005: Unlikely partners develop solar cooker for the poor - VietNamNet Bridge
- May 2005: More locals in central Vietnam exposed to solar cookers - Thanh Nien Daily
- November 2004: Insight from Vietnam's Solar Serve organization
Contacts
Nguyen Tan Bich
Solar Serve Center
Lo 24-26 - Duong Dong Hai 6
Phuong Hoa Hai, Quan Ngu Hanh Son
Danang City, Vietnam
Tel: +84 0511 - 3 967 108
Mobile: 0919 511 552
Email: solarserve@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.vietnamsolarserve.org