IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v1y1997i4p291-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solar box cookers: Towards a decentralized sustainable energy strategy for sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Carmody, Ellie R.
  • Sarkar, Amin U.

Abstract

The continued economic decline of sub-Saharan Africa, and the African energy crisis in particular, have received considerable attention in recent literature. Little attention, however, has been given to the assessment of solar power as an environmentally sound and economically viable energy strategy. Considering the increasing fuelwood scarcity and debt incurred through petroleum imports, solar energy provides a welcome alternative to traditional biomass and fossil fuel energy sources. Research and development in solar energy has concentrated primarily on highly technical, capital intensive applications, leaving possibilities for small scale utilizations unexplored. This paper argues for small scale, decentralized development of solar power as a sustainable household fuel source for sub-Saharan Africa. Domestic cooking constitutes more than 60% of total energy use in the region and consumes scarce time, labor, income, and natural resources. Thus, the appropriate management of fuel and energy resources in the residential sector is crucial for significant development. This paper examines the economic viability of solar box cookers (SBCs), their costs and benefits both on the household and community levels, and how they may contribute to economic development. In arguing for the implementation of SBCs, policy implications in terms of financing and a comprehensive energy plan geared towards sustainable development are also presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmody, Ellie R. & Sarkar, Amin U., 1997. "Solar box cookers: Towards a decentralized sustainable energy strategy for sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 291-301, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:1:y:1997:i:4:p:291-301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(97)00008-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merkle, Thomas, 1994. "Applied solar energy plants in a hospital in Northern Ghana," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 454-456.
    2. Jain, Pushpendra K. & Nijegorodov, Nikolai & Kartha, C.G., 1994. "Role of solar energy in development in Botswana," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 179-188.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vanschoenwinkel, Janka & Lizin, Sebastien & Swinnen, Gilbert & Azadi, Hossein & Van Passel, Steven, 2014. "Solar cooking in Senegalese villages: An application of best–worst scaling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 447-458.
    2. Otte, Pia Piroschka, 2014. "Developing technology: The quest for a new theoretical framework for understanding the role of technology in human development," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 11-17.
    3. Naik, Hardik & Baredar, Prashant & Kumar, Anil, 2017. "Medium temperature application of concentrated solar thermal technology: Indian perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 369-378.
    4. Peter, Raja & Dickie, Laurence & Peter, Vasanthi M., 2006. "Adoption of photovoltaic power supply systems: A study of key determinants in India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 2272-2283.
    5. Lindgren, Samantha, 2024. "Sociocultural determinants of electric cooking in rural Namibia: Recommendations for youth and educational approaches to implementation strategy and policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. Saxena, Abhishek & Varun & Pandey, S.P. & Srivastav, G., 2011. "A thermodynamic review on solar box type cookers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3301-3318, August.
    7. Peter, Raja & Ramaseshan, B & Nayar, C.V, 2002. "Conceptual model for marketing solar based technology to developing countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 511-524.
    8. Otte, Pia Piroschka, 2013. "Solar cookers in developing countries—What is their key to success?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 375-381.
    9. Lindgren, Samantha, 2021. "Cookstove implementation and Education for Sustainable Development: A review of the field and proposed research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahlborg, Helene & Hammar, Linus, 2014. "Drivers and barriers to rural electrification in Tanzania and Mozambique – Grid-extension, off-grid, and renewable energy technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 117-124.
    2. Camblong, H. & Sarr, J. & Niang, A.T. & Curea, O. & Alzola, J.A. & Sylla, E.H. & Santos, M., 2009. "Micro-grids project, Part 1: Analysis of rural electrification with high content of renewable energy sources in Senegal," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2141-2150.
    3. Luhanga, P.V.C. & Nijegorodov, N., 1997. "Investigation of solar radiation in Botswana and some anomalous phenomena observed," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 401-408.
    4. Jain, P.K. & Lungu, E.M. & Prakash, J., 2003. "Bivarate models: relationships between solar irradiation and either sunshine duration or extremum temperatures," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1211-1223.
    5. Tlhalerwa, Keabile & Mulalu, Mulalu, 2019. "Assessment of the concentrated solar power potential in Botswana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 294-306.
    6. Jain, P.K. & Lungu, E.M., 2002. "Stochastic models for sunshine duration and solar irradiation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 197-209.
    7. Brunet, Carole & Savadogo, Oumarou & Baptiste, Pierre & Bouchard, Michel A., 2018. "Shedding some light on photovoltaic solar energy in Africa – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 325-342.
    8. Trotter, Philipp A. & McManus, Marcelle C. & Maconachie, Roy, 2017. "Electricity planning and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1189-1209.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:1:y:1997:i:4:p:291-301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.