[Stoves] solar cooker response (changing thread name)

Nikhil Desai pienergy2008 at gmail.com
Wed Jun 14 09:14:37 CDT 2017


It is not necessary that a solar cooker have a backup.

Please stop thinking of the cooking market in terms of vague "integrated
cooking solution." Solar cookers can do daytime large-scale tasks.

Besides, a three-stone wood fire is always a reliable backup. Cutting its
use may not satisfy Kirk Smith as "truly health protective", but that makes
no difference.

About the time as I looked into Gelfuel in Malawi, I also talked to some
people about solar cookers. My tentative view then (~15 years ago) was that
while Gelfuel could be a convenient small-scale backup, solar cooker just
did not appeal to cooks.

Possibly another instance of Boy Scout thermodynamicists who didn't find a
good market definition and an industrial product designer.

In other words, technical standards or lack thereof probably had the least
to do with failure. Because solar cookers have a high capital cost,
utilization rates play a more significant role.

Another consideration is the institutional base for marketing and
after-sales service. With the kind of locale GIZ experts picked - rural
northwest in South Africa - I wonder just who was locally available to
source, store solar cookers for display and to serve as a selling and
guarantee agent.

No matter what technical standards you labor on, it's the institutional
capacity that is the Achilles' heel. Sitting in Europe and selling in South
Africa worked with kerosene lamps a hundred years ago because the fuel was
available locally. Selling solar cookers that way required a sanity check.


Nikhil



Nikhil Desai
+91 909 995 2080 <+91%2090999%2052080>
Skype: nikhildesai888

On Jun 14, 2017, at 8:09 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

Dear Dieter

Do you know the name(s) of the test methods used during that comparison,
and did any of them make it to being accepted as an international solar
cooker standard?

Also, thank you for your clarifications and request that we consider the
whole solar sector is not a single 'thing'. Because solar cookers require a
backup device, often a biomass stove, we should pay attention on this
channel.

Arising out of the Sout‎h African GTZ (at the time) project is the
realisation that the biomass stove has to be rapid lighting. By the time
the cook gives up on the solar cooked meal, the need for immediate heat is
obvious. The report on the project should be available on line. To be
practical, the biomass and solar stoves should be marketed as a pair. We
toyed with the idea at the time that the biomass stove could be built into
the solar cooker.

Generally speaking the solar cooker cost a lot more than a back up stove.

Regards
Crispin
‎

Dear Stovers,

A source of confusion concerning solar cookers is the large variety of
devices, all of them called "solar cookers". At the Plataforma
Solar/Almeria/Spain there was an International Solar Cooker Test by
Eurpoean Committee for Solar Cooking Research in 1994 with 25 participating
devices. One of them did not cook at all; the SK parabolic cooker (1.4 m
reflector diameter) brougt 48 liters of water to the boil per day. Some
cookers had direct access to the pot, others not. Some were only applicable
for special tasks, etc.



Thus, general judgments are problematic. Solar cooking is a great
opportunity with a high variety of applications. Problems can be overcome,
but persistence is necessary, similar e.g. to the development of bicycles.



Kind regards,
Dieter


Am 14.06.2017 um 03:46 schrieb Michael N Trevor:

Here in the Marshall Islands, the another science teacher wanted them
thrown away because they were bulky and had no value in classes centered on
environmental science and climate change. Of course we are only about 2/3
meters above sea level


On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 1:01 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> Nikhil
>
> Let's not assume anything.‎ These were the findings of the study which was
> a multi-year attempt to find out if there was any long term reason to get
> involved in the promotion of solar cookers.
>
> The conclusion was, no. ‎And they swore them off. For them, if they had a
> chance anywhere that was the ideal place, and it was not viable.
>
> Very sane.
> Crispin
>
>
>
> Crispin;
>
> You have listed enough reasons to dispute the sanity of GIZ experts.
>
> Nikhil
>
>
>
>
> On Jun 13, 2017, at 11:35 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
> crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:
>
> Solar concentrating cooker:
>
>
>
> One of the main problems encountered with solar cookers (K14, K16 and so
> on) in the last big GIZ effort in North-West Province of South Africa was,
> in spite of the rural location, theft of the stoves for sale to scrap
> merchants. Aluminum is valuable.
>
>
>
> Another common problem is wind tipping them over.
>
> A third is wind-blown dust getting into the food.
>
> A fourth is theft of the food.
>
> A fifth is storage of the unit.
>
>
>
> People have little space in their homes and storage of a valuable cooker
> outdoors is not practical.
>
>
>
> GIZ spent about 7m Euros on that project and declared no further interest
> in solar cookers.
>
>
>
> Crispin
>
>
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