
Sustainable cooking ovens for low-income households:
Households and schools rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking. Children often skip schools and breakfast to travel long distances in search of firewood. This leads to less access to education, poverty and health issues. Also, four million people die annually from indoor smoke pollution caused by using firewood and charcoal for cooking and smoke pollution causes respiratory and eye problems. Sustainable solar powered cooking stove is the solution. The solar powered cooker is based on the use of solar energy and coconut husks. Coconut husk is biomass waste from palm trees and is easily available, thereby reducing waste. With the sun being the most important source of renewable energy, the stoves produce no smoke, and this project reduces deforestation and smoke pollution. The solar powered stoves can also use coconut and palm nut husks as an alternative to burning coal, thereby reducing waste which would otherwise have been dumped on landfills. Also, lightbulbs can be attached to the solar panels, mainly where no electrical power exists and the panels can also be used to charge phones. School kids can use the LED lightbulbs in the evenings or early in the morning before going to school. One important point is dealing with the minimization of deforestation in communities and the sun is freely available.