Solar Cookers International

Solar Cookers International won an Ashden Award in 2002 for their work with solar cookers in Kenya. In August 2006, SCI was the winner of the World Renewable Energy Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.reiaward.com|title=Renewable Energy Awards 2018|website=www.reiaward.com}} SCI was named as a winner in the Keeling Curve Prize for sustainable planet solutions in August 2021. SCI won for its work “improving human and environmental health by supporting the expansion of effective carbon-free solar cooking in world regions of greatest need” in the Social and Cultural Pathways category. SCI has also been honored by entities such as the California State Legislature{{cite web |title=California State Legislature recognizes Solar Cookers International (SCI) |url=https://www.globalsolarcouncil.org/california-state-legislature-recognizes-solar-cookers-international-sci/ |website=Global Solar Council |access-date=3 March 2024}} and the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Solar Cookers International was founded in 1987 as Solar Box Cookers International. Barbara Kerr and Sherry Cole partnered with other supporters to form this organization.{{ cite web | title = Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven | date = 2009-04-09 | url = http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/09/solar.oven.global.warming/index.html | publisher = CNN International | accessdate = 2009-11-29 }}

SCI produced and distributed manuals describing the construction and use of solar box-style cookers. They became advocates of how solar cooking could be incorporated into development and relief agency programs. SCI's role evolved into networking with other solar cooking organizations worldwide. They hosted forums for dialog including co-sponsoring three international solar cooking conferences with the University of the Pacific, US, in 1992, the National University of Costa Rica in 1994 and the deemed university, Coimbatore, India in 1997.{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.solarcookers.org/about/history.html| publisher=Solar Cookers International| accessdate=2009-11-30 }}

SCI also administered a series of solar cooking field projects. Since 1995, SCI has managed or co-managed solar cooking projects in the Nyakach district, Kenya; in the Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya; in the Aisha refugee camp, Ethiopia; in various communities, Zimbabwe; and in Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya.

SCI supported the development of the CooKit, a mass-producible, foldable solar cooker in the 1990s.{{cite web|title=The Simple Panel Cooker that Feeds Tens of Thousands Daily|work=Tools of Survival |url=http://toolsofsurvival.com/blog/the-simple-panel-cooker-that-feeds-tens-of-thousands-daily/|accessdate=25 November 2017}}

File:Water Pasteurization Indicator.jpg

In efforts to promote solar cooking worldwide, SCI leads through advocacy, research, and building capacity of the solar cooking movement. SCI releases multiple publications a year, disseminating news in the solar cooking sector. To help build capacity for solar cooking, SCI offers a wide range of free online educational resources on its website.

SCI has hosted regional and international solar cooking conferences including the 6th SCI World Conference 2017 in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, and the SCI Regional Convention 2015 in Sacramento, California, USA. SCI also attends and presents at high-level events such as 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference(COP26), United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), and the CONSOLFOOD conference to promote and advocate for solar cooking.

SCI also runs the Solar Cookers International Association, a group of academics, decision-makers, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, innovators, advocates, humanitarians, environmentalists, and NGOs working to promote solar thermal cooking worldwide.

To demonstrate the impacts of solar cooking, SCI gathers and analyzes solar cooking data. The creation of country-specific economic-impact summaries and a map of the global distribution of solar cookers help deliver evidence-based results about the advantages of solar cooking. SCI estimates there are more than 4 million solar cookers in use worldwide.

Solar Cookers International spearheads the solar cooker Performance Evaluation Process (PEP). The PEP testing program is an objective, scientific process to evaluate solar cooker performance. Evaluation of the performance, user experience, and quality of solar cookers was identified as a high priority by the attendees of the 5th SCI World Conference in Sacramento, California, USA, 2014. The process and instrumentation were presented and demonstrated at the 6th SCI World Conference in Gujarat, India, January 2017.

The SCI PEP testing program is intended for increasing the use of high-quality solar cookers worldwide. PEP test stations automate a protocol that harmonizes with guidelines published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The program is based on the ASAE S580.1 protocol for Testing and Reporting Solar Cooker Performance. SCI currently has testing centers in the USA, Kenya, and Nepal.

SCI sponsors and maintains a solar cooking wiki{{cite web|url=http://solarcooking.org|title=Solar Cooking|website=solarcooking.org}} which includes over 1700 solar cooking articles categorized by country, NGO, manufacturer, and solar cooker designs. This wiki operates as a virtual community collaborating to improve and disseminate solar thermal technology for its positive impact on health and environmental degradation. Also included is information regarding related technologies such as heat-retention cooking, water pasteurization, solar food processing, solar food drying, solar autoclaving, and solar canning.

SCI developed the CooKit as an adaptation of a cooker designed by Dr. Roger Bernard in France. The cooker consists of a foil-lined cardboard reflector with a dark pot inside a plastic bag. This simple mechanism converts hundreds of watts of sunlight into heat and can cook one or two pots of food at a time.

Cardboard, aluminium foil, and plastic bags for well over 10,000 solar cookers have been donated to the Iridimi Refugee Camp and Touloum Refugee Camps in Chad by the combined efforts of the Jewish World Watch, the Dutch foundation KoZon, and SCI. The refugees construct the cookers themselves, using the donated supplies and locally purchased Arabic gum,{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/12/solar.darfur/index.html?iref=mpstoryview |title=Solar lifeline saves Darfur women | publisher = CNN.com |accessdate=2008-03-06 | date=September 17, 2007}} and use them for midday and evening meals. The goal of this project was to reduce the Darfuri women's need to leave the relative safety of the camp to gather firewood, which exposed them to a high risk of being beaten, raped, kidnapped, or murdered.{{cite web|url=http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=12999|title=Sides, Phyllis. Local woman helps keep the spotlight on the crisis in Darfur. Journal Times: Beyond Wisconsin. May 16, 2007, accessed May 29, 2007}}[http://jewishworldwatch.org/donate/solarcookerproject.html Jewish World Watch. Solar Cooker Project. 2007, accessed May 29, 2007.][http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16010 Tugend, Tom. Jewish World Watch Eyes National Stage. Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. June 16, 2006, accessed May 29, 2007.] It has also significantly reduced the amount of time women spend tending open fires each day, with the results that they are healthier and they have more time to grow vegetables for their families and make handicrafts for export.

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• Solar Cooker
• Energy poverty and cooking
• Household air pollution
• UN-Energy

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{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://solarcookers.org}}
• [http://solarcooking.org SCI hosts the Solar Cookers International Network wiki]
• [http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/environment/solar-cookers-international-in-sacramento-ca-4386/all Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance report]
• [http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=8211#.Vq-qfbIrL4Y Charity Navigator rating]

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Category:Climate change organizations based in the United States

Category:Nature conservation organizations based in the United States

Category:Environmental organisations based in Kenya

Category:Food science institutes

Category:Non-profit organizations based in California

Category:Renewable energy organizations based in the United States

Category:Solar thermal energy

Category:Sustainability organizations

Category:Food technology organizations

Category:501(c)(3) organizations

Category:Organizations established in 1987