Solar Cookers International

Solar Cookers International
Founded 1987
Location 1919 21st Street, Suite # 101, Sacramento, California, 95811, USA
Area served Worldwide
Focus Solar cooking and Water pasteurization
Revenue $912,831 (2010 fiscal year)
Endowment $25,000 (as of June 30, 2010)
Employees 5
Motto Harnessing the power of the sun to benefit people and the environment.
Website Solar Cookers International
Member of Solar Cookers World Network

Solar Cookers International (SCI) is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit, non-governmental organization that spreads solar cooking awareness and skills worldwide, particularly in areas with plentiful sunshine and diminishing sources of cooking fuel. SCI has been working in Africa since 1995 and encouraged thousands of families there to cook with the sun's energy, freeing women and children from the burdens of gathering wood and and tending smokey fires. Tens of thousands of individuals and organizations from all over the world have learned about solar cooking through SCI's international programs, education resources, and information exchange network.

SCI sponsors the Solar Cookers World Network, an association of approximately 500 NGOs, manufacturers, and individiuals involved in solar cooking. It also publishes Solar Cooker Review. SCI won an Ashden Award in 2002 for their work with solar cookers in Kenya.[1] SCI is headquartered in Sacramento, California, USA.

Contents

Focus

According to the their website, SCI's mission is to harness "the power of the sun to benefit people and the environment" by focusing in the following areas: Direct Service and Partnerships and Global Advocacy.

Values

In making decisions, Solar Cookers International is guided by the following values:

  1. Industry Collegiality and Relationship
  2. Credible Data and Industry Testing and Standards
  3. Innovation
  4. Environmental Improvement
  5. Healthful Living Environments
  6. Economic Opportunities
  7. Gender Equity
  8. Integrity and Fiscal Responsibility

Strategies

Areas of focus build strategies for an organization to follow:

  1. A commitment to prioritize Global Advocacy.
  2. A commitment to Solar Plus Cooking and Lighting.
  3. A commitment to mobilize, lead and facilitate the global "Solar Plus" cooking movement through the SCWNetwork and Solar Plus Coalition.
  4. A commitment to industry testing and standards.
  5. A commitment to seek innovative marketing strategies and scale up capacity.
  6. A commitment to prioritize three focus areas: Health- Environment- Economy.
  7. An on- going commitment to improved technology.
  8. A commitment to humanitarian efforts, disaster response.

Vision

Solar Cookers International promotes the use of solar thermal cooking technology through:

Their goal is to improve health, economies, and the environment throughout the sun-rich, fuel starved developing world.

Programs & Projects

Solar Cookers International's programs and projects fall into the following areas:

History

Solar Cookers International originally called Solar Box Cookers International[4] was founded in 1987 by several supporters residing in the sunny Central Valley of California.[5] Among the founders were

SCI produced and distributed manuals describing construction and use of solar box style cookers. Also 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, USA in 1992; the National University of Costa Rica in 1994; and the deemed university, Coimbatore, India in 1997.[5]

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.[5] See Programs & Projects section above for a description of the Sunny Solutions program in Nyakach, Kenya. For information about refugee camp work in Darfur, Sudan, refer to the Solar cooker article in Wikipedia.

SCI supported the development of the CooKit, a mass-producible, foldable solar cooker in the 1990s.[11]

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ "Solar Cookers International, Kenya: Solar cooking". The Ashden Awards for sustainable energy. 2002. http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/sci. Retrieved 2009-Dec-11. 
  2. ^ "Solar Cooking". Wikia, Inc.. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Cookers_World_Network_(Home). Retrieved 2009-11-21. 
  3. ^ "Solar Cooker Review". Solar Cookers International. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Scr. Retrieved 2009-11-21. 
  4. ^ "Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven". CNN International. 2009-04-09. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/09/solar.oven.global.warming/index.html. Retrieved 2009-11-29. 
  5. ^ a b c "History". Solar Cookers International. http://www.solarcookers.org/about/history.html. Retrieved 2009-Nov-30. 
  6. ^ "Bev Blum". Wikia, Inc.. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Bev_Blum. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
  7. ^ "Solar Cookers World Network". Wikia, Inc.. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Cookers_World_Network. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
  8. ^ a b "Barbara Kerr". Wikia, Inc.. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Barbara_Kerr. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
  9. ^ US 4236508, Kerr, Barbara & Elsa Cole, "Solar cooker and method of assembly", published 1978-Dec-11, issued 1980-Dec-02 
  10. ^ "Bob Metcalf". Wikia, Inc.. http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Metcalf. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 
  11. ^ "CooKit". Wikia, Inc.. http://www.wikia.com/wiki/CooKit. Retrieved 2009-11-30.