Importance of solar cookers in women's daily lives: A review

• Published in: Energy for sustainable development Vol. 70; pp. 466 - 474
• Main Authors: Padonou, E.A., Akabassi, G.C., Akakpo, B.A., Sinsin, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01-10-2022
• Subjects: Adoption constraint; CO2 reduction; Health improvement; Socioeconomic importance; Solar cooker; Workload reduction; Adoption constraint; Health improvement; Workload reduction; CO2 reduction; Solar cooker; Socioeconomic importance
• ISSN: 0973-0826
• DOI: 10.1016/j.esd.2022.08.015

Most African women spend a lot of time on housework unpaid works, such as collecting fuel, cooking at home, and looking after children. They spend around 3.5–8 h a day collecting firewood from a long distance, sometimes coming back very tired. New technologies are using to reduce women time spent for unpaid working including solar cookers that also contribute to sustainable environment and health. With a view to reducing women's daily workload and contributing to sustainable development, this review aims to highlight the importance of solar cookers in women's daily lives. A total of 73 papers from Africa (39.73 %), Asia (17.81 %), America (6.85 %), Europe (4.10 %), and the rest of the world (31.51 %) were considered. Three types of solar cookers (SCs), namely box cookers, panel cookers, and parabolic cookers, were identified. Each had different performance and design parameters. SCs can save 1 to 5 h per day of time spent on fuelwood collection and between 18 and 48 h per month on cooking. Moreover, SCs can save about 9.1 USD (for home use), 136 USD (in snack bar), 600.6 USD (in hotels), 910 USD (in restaurants) and 391,667 USD (in city) monthly. In addition, each SC can save between 850 kg and 1 ton of wood monthly. The reduction in CO2 emitted per month by using SCs was up to 60.55 kg (at home), 6055.2 kg (in restaurants), 3996.43 kg (in hotels), and 908.28 kg (in snack). SCs reduce or eliminate eye disease, respiratory disease, headaches, cardiovascular disease, cancer and nutritional deficiencies. The adoption rate of SCs remains low in Africa and ranges from 0.8 % (in Kenya) to 38 % (in South Africa). Economic, social, cultural, environmental, political, and technical barriers are factors limiting the adoption of SCs in developing countries.
•Most African women spend around 3.5–8 h a day collecting firewood.•Solar cookers (SCs) contribute to sustainable environment and health.•SCs can save 1 to 5 h per day of time spent on fuelwood collection.•SC can save between 850 kg and 1 ton of wood monthly.•The main constraints of SCs adoption are economic and cultural.