permaculture

["Scott Pittman" <scott@permaculture.org>]

While solar ovens are a good and proven technology I have yet to convince
any culture (including our own) to use them instead of wood or manure.  Even
in Haiti where I have a farmer training project running people won't use the
solar oven even though they are very aware of the scarcity of wood.  Haiti
is 96 to 98% deforested.  They claim that the food doesn't taste good and
that it takes too long to cook meaning more time away from the field.

A friend of mind had the same exact problem in Guatemala, even though she
had a solar oven non-profit backing her efforts.  

Most of Haiti's forests have been turned to charcoal for cooking.  This
means that      Port au Prince, Cap Haitian, and Jeremy all have to be
supplied with charcoal for their stoves.  This is a picture of post peak
oil.  Can you imagine the logging frenzy to heat homes and apartments in
Manhattan??

An additional problem is that once you accept that wood is the fuel of
choice then there is the next big battle to get people to use fuel efficient
appliances.  Most Haitians prefer to cook over an open fire, as to the
mountain dwellers of the Himalayas.

We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us and if you watch the movie at
www.zeitgeistmovie.com you will quickly realize that our task is nothing
short of revolutionary.


Scott Pittman
Director
Permaculture Institute
www.permaculture.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Lite [mailto:liteshoe@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:52 AM
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [permaculture] alternative fuels for cooking

I'm behind on my reading, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned.
Solar cooking and solar water pasteurization may fill a need in climates
with abundant sunshine - many designs from simple to complicated, and no
emissions from smoke:
http://www.solarcooking.org/

Some basic info on solar cooking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_oven

and many links:
http://www.solarhaven.org/SolarCooking.htm

Some designs are simple foil-covered cardboard.


>This is a link to some work that a friend of mine is doing in the
Philippines, where desertification is occurring because wood is being used
as cooking fuel.
>Her device is very efficient and can use a variety of fuels including
coconut husk and dung.
>http://www.eco-kalan.com/5.0.0.1.0.0.phtml