Kyoto Twist Projects
2005 Tiplas, Haiti Project with
Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT)
2007 Coachaca Grande, Bolivia Project with
Center for Development with Solar Energy Foundation (CEDESOL)
Project Model
The Kyoto Twist seeks both private and public sector funding to purchase solar cookers and support training programs for the benefit of families in countries where there is a need to alleviate the problems caused by the shortage or high cost of cooking fuel. Donations to the KyotoTwist provide families with training and a solar cooker. Contributions can be made online and are tax deductible in Canada. Click on the CanadaHelps icon.
The Kyoto Twist works with NGOs who have solar cooker experience and a proven track record in countries where solar cookers are an appropriate technology in terms of location, culture, and need.
Here’s how it works. An NGO applies for funding from the Kyoto Twist, using the “Application Packet” developed especially for this purpose. They specify how they will structure and carry out their project, how they will select the families, how they will carry out the training, and how they will follow up and support the users.
Our project model and application process is designed to avoid the common pitfalls of such projects and is gleaned from the cumulative experience of the solar cooker movement worldwide. Careful selection of the families receiving the training and cookers, the presence of a peer support network and essential follow-up are just a few of the conditions we know are important to the success of domestic solar cooking projects and we screen for them in our application process.
Once an application is reviewed and approved by the Kyoto Twist Board of Directors, a contract is drawn between the NGO and the Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society. The NGO can apply to receive cookers, which the Kyoto Twist will purchase and ship or receive funds to purchase or build the cookers in country. The Kyoto Twist does not promote any particular model of solar cooker. The experienced groups we partner with have already developed or chosen the appropriate cookers and accessories for their area and conditions.
Funding is dispersed in three or more payments as the phases of the project are completed. Our documentation procedures are well defined, because we intend to track the success of the recipient families, their financial savings with their solar cookers, and their greenhouse gas emission reductions. Accountability to our contributors is a paramount concern. Project tracking and follow-up are built into our criteria for funding.
For more details on our project model, our procedures, or to receive an “Application Packet” please contact us by mail or email. To find out more about solar cookers and projects around the world, go to our resources section for links to related information.
2005 Tiplas, Haiti Project with
Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT)
Kyoto Twist launched its first project with Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT). Their mission is to help improve the quality of life for poor and underprivileged in the world and to assist the victims of natural and man-made disasters. A solar cooker project fit in with their experience in Haiti where deforestation has occurred to the point that cooking fuel is scarce, dangerous levels of soil erosion create a risk to agriculture, and important fruit trees are in danger of disappearing altogether from the landscape. A common cooking fuel there is charcoal. Workers walk high into the mountains to find trees. The wood is cut and placed in large pits, where it is first burned and then covered with earth and allowed to smolder. Three-quarters of the heating potential of the wood is lost when it is made into charcoal.
AMURT has been working in Haiti for over fifteen years and conducted a successful solar cooker program in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Ananda Marga team was involved in the second year of a community development project in the northwest region of Haiti where desert conditions exist and cooking fuel is a serious problem. AMURT applied to the Kyoto Twist to fund a project for ten families in the village of Tiplas.
The workshop participants were selected on the basis of need and commitment to use and promote solar cooker knowledge. The training was conducted in the village of Source-Chaudes in the northwest part of Haiti. Ten women were selected and given a three-day solar cooking seminar. Each participant received a solar cooker and two black cooking pots. Over three days, participants learned cooking preparation, recipes, and environmental education.
The solar cooker type used in this project was a box-type with reflectors. The unit is made in the US of quality materials by Sun Oven and has a use-expectancy of 25 years. The Kyoto Twist has also assisted in training and organizing a workshop in Lambert, Haiti to assemble these cookers. Over a 25-year period, it is estimated that the ovens will be delivered at a cost of $10.00 per family solar cooking year. A conservative estimate of the CO2 savings by each family that cooks a third or more of their meals with the sun is one tonne of emissions per year. This project for 10 families can expect to save 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 25-year lifespan of the cookers. At this minimal rate of usage, emissions will be saved at a rate of ten dollars per tonne.
2007 Coachaca Grande, Bolivia Project with
Center for Development with Solar Energy Foundation (CEDESOL)
In an effort to efficiently deliver solar cookers, the Kyoto Twist partnered with CEDESOL (The Center for Development with Solar Energy Foundation), which was established as a non-profit in 2003 in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
David Whitfield and Ruth Saavedra and their team are the organizers there and have many years experience supporting the use of solar cookers and efficient wood cook stoves called rocket stoves. CEDESOL has distributed over 3,000 solar cookers in Bolivia. They have put together a great training and delivery plan using funds from generous donors to Kyoto Twist. In July 2007, 30 families in Coachaca Grande, Bolivia were chosen through the KTSCS selection interview process to participate in building their own box-type (Ulog) solar cookers, and learning how to most effectively use them.
The village has 120 families and fewer and fewer wood resources. 95% of the community is agricultural. The area averages 290 sunny days per year. Firewood and gas are the primary cooking fuels used there. Health problems are reported caused by smoke from cooking fires: coughs and eye cataracts. Water is taken from the river for drinking and the people there suffer health problems due to non-sanitized water which can be easily pasteurized in a solar cooker.
In the past, the area was covered with fruit trees and now the area is nearly barren with only eucalyptus trees standing. The reports are that the lack of firewood has caused much tension and strife for the villagers competing for a dwindling resource. All wood for cooking is cut or collected and none is purchased. When trying to find wood, people usually go to the river to try and find driftwood or people cut down eucalyptus trees. In this area it is common for people to steal wood from neighbors which causes arguments and resentment. They are left with very little choice when they have no other means of cooking food to live. The mayor of the village felt that using solar cookers would help bring peace to his community and enthusiastically assisted the project by promoting the idea to his neighbors.
Families were chosen who had adequate sun exposure at their homes, willingness to be interviewed and share information, overall understanding of the project and procedures, eagerness to gain understanding of alternatives to traditional cooking fuel, the confidence to be a successful solar cook, openness to try a new technology, and a secure location to use and store the cooker. The project is designed to collect data on cooker usage and fuel savings.
KTSCS uses the methodology developed by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) for determining greenhouse gas reduction for fuel savings with solar cookers. This project met the budgetary criteria of KTSCS of $9.00 per family solar cooking year. Each cooker used in this project has a use-expectancy of 17 years.
Preliminary figures show that each cooker can eliminate an estimated 17 to 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere- that is 510 to 1200 tonnes of emissions over the 17 years for this project! This website report will be updated with more specific data when the calculations for this project have been completed. We hope to have many more success stories to report here in the future.
Quoting the CEDESOL group:
“We believe that there is hope for the many disenfranchised of this world. Our goal is to enrich humanity by equipping people with social and technological tools that permit them to direct their own destinies. All our activities center around three key concepts: Alternative Education, Renewable Energy, and Social Justice.”
Read more about CEDESOL’s work in Bolivia on their website at www.cedesol.org.
Save a tonne, Save a life.
