News and Recent Developments
- August 2006: Engineer Rodolfo Carrillo reports that solar box cookers are a great success in the plains of Venezuela. Cooperativa Wayne, R.L. developed a box-type solar cooker using aluminum obtained locally at low prices. The cooperative keeps track of every family that obtains a cooker, so that follow-up services can be provided. "The people that have gotten solar cookers are using them in an excellent manner," says Carrillo. People, mostly peasants, build their own cookers in the program and learn to both cook meals and pasteurize water with solar energy. The work of Cooperativa Wayne, R.L. has been covered by local and national newspapers. Other cooperatives have been in touch, seeking to spread solar cooking to their constituents.
- November 2003: Norvex, an ecological cooperative, is developing a solar cooking program whereby poor families in Venezuela receive instruction in the construction and use of solar box cookers. Seventy cookers have been constructed thus far with financial assistance from the German embassy in Caracas. The cookers primarily have gone to families in the Venezuelan outback and small coastal islands. In addition to cooking, solar water pasteurization is important in these rural communities where water is often contaminated. Former Solar Cookers International board member Shyam Nandwani, of Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional, has provided technical assistance to this project. Contact: Asociacion Ecologica Norvex, Apartado No. 50092-1050, Sabana Grande, D.C., Caracas, Venezuela. Tel: 58-0414-839-2909, 0282-4-250584, e-mail: email@example.com
The History of Solar Cooking in Venezuela
Two small-scale efforts on the part of individuals to promote solar cooking are reported as having occurred in Venezuela. Carlos Manuel Mujica of Urban Fundalara demonstrates cookers and teaches others how to use them. Similarly, Flor Isabel Tur of the Centre por Desarrollo Y Ambiente (Development and Environment) uses cookers and holds workshops to teach others.
Currently, NORVEX, an ecological cooperative, is starting a solar cooking program for poor families in Venezuela. Financial assistance comes from the German embassy in Caracas. Families are taught how to construct and use the cooker, and how to pasteurize water. Seventy cookers had been made at the time of writing the news report, with most new solar users residing in rural areas where water is often contaminated. No information on future plans is available.
Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations
Articles in the media
Grupo de discusión Facebook
Audio and video
- La Cocina Solar - UN Radio