The Sun Bucket Coostove: Promoting use of solar energy

Godfrey Mawira is an engineer with United Nations World Food Prgramme. He is also a researcher on sustainable energy and founder of Eco-mandate, a firm promoting renewable energy in Kenya. While on an assignment by UNWFP in Kakuma, one of the largest refugee camps in Kenya, he noticed massive deforestation by the refugees to use the trees for firewood. Kakuma hosts thousands of refugees fleeing from conflicts in their countries such as South Sudan, Somalia, democratic Republic of Congo and Sundan, among others. Kakuma suffers from pressure for demand for firewood which is the primary source of cooking and this has led to the massive exploitation of existing woodlots. In a bid to reduce deforestation, I did a research on alternative source of energy and that is how the Sun Bucket was born.” Says Mawira. The Sun Bucket is a portable cookstove that stores the sun’s energy and later used for cooking any type of meal Historically, Sun Buckets began as a student project at the University of Illinois, USA. An academic research team advanced the project by conducting a deep dive into the problem, learning about the challenges and issues with cooking especially among the energy impoverished around the world. Sun Buckets was incorporated in 2014 and began product development and proof of concept testing. The Sun Bucket harnesses the heat of the sun and stores it in a bucket that can be used to cook at any time of the day. Eco-mandate partnered with researchers from Illinois, to introduce Sun Buckets in Kenya. Bruce Elliot, a professor at the university and one of the founders of Sun Buckets says energy impoverished are forced to use almost any combustible material as fuel, even if it is dangerous, creates harmful emissions, or results in deforestation. He adds that Sun Buckets is an energy platform that sources free, renewable energy in a way that is safe and free of emissions. Moreover, it provides a portable and practical cooking solution that can be used anytime, anywhere, including at night and inside, and serves related thermal energy needs like space heating, food drying, and water sanitation. The World Health Organization asserts (2014) that 3 billion people cook and heat using solid fuels, creating health-damaging pollutants. These, Mawira says has had adverse effects both on the people and the environment.The sun cooking therefore helps reduce overreliance on fuel. The Sun Bucket has a parabolic dish that receives solar from the sun through radiation at the focal point, where cooking is done. One can also harvest the solar energy to be used later on by use of the Sun Bucket, which is placed at the focal point of the dish to tap all the energy. The bucket has a thermometer that rises upto 400 degrees Celsius depending on how hot it is. The bucket is then removed, placed on the ground and covered using an insulator. When one is ready to cook, remove the insulator cover, and proceed with placing the pot on the cooker. Sun Buckets can also be used as house warmers during cold seasons thereby reducing electricity bills Mawiri says using sun buckets will lead to achievement of sustainable development goal number seven universal access to energy. In Africa, the project is at piloting stage and has been tried at Kakuma with some refugee families already using it. Professor Bruce, on a telephone interview says currently only prototypes are being produced, making them quite expensive. “However we are moving into production of our second generation model which will be lower cost, and eventually we aim to make the product very low cost. We also envision entrepreneurs starting "Solar Farms" to heat the Sun Buckets for customers who lease them at a cost less than charcoal. Depleted buckets are returned for reheating,” he adds. Sun Buckets have a major limitation that during cloudy weather users must return to previous means of cooking,.“However we are working on long-term storage innovations that will work during cloudy days and even through rainy seasons,” says Professor Bruce Sun Buckets project, being piloted in Kenya has since received a grant of USD$250,000 over a maximum of twenty-four (24) months to support the validation and testing of new approaches