Solar Ovens - An Obvious Solution (Or Not)
	Mali, as much of Africa, has abundant sunshine. Malians regularly buy wood and charcoal with which to cook and heat. This expense can be 20% or more of their income. In addition, the wood & charcoal emits smoke and partiulates into the air, the Sahara desert is encroaching from the north, and deforestation is an increasing problem. Solar ovens are the obvious solution, right?  I thoiught so. Well, maybe not.  This is a complex area of study, and I am not an expert. However, I would like to share what I know and have seen regarding solar ovens in Mali. There is a significant cultural momentum built up around using wood/charcoal. Historically, these fuels have been readily available. Peoples' livlihoods are dependent on selling the fuels. Families are used to cooking with the fuels. They can cook without the sun (early in the morning, after dark, and during the rare cloudy days during rainy season). Families also like the taste of food cooked with wood & characoal. Then there are the ovens themselves. There are many types of solar ovens. Some are very cheap (a good thing), but are made of cardboard, do not last long, and do not cook well because they cannot maintain high temperatures (bad things). Unfortunately, several solar oven projects in the past have presented the cheaper but less efficient ovens to the Malian public. Therefore, there is a general impression of solar ovens that is not positive. There are ovens that last 20 years and maintain high temperatures to enable cooking of a wide variety of foods. These ovens cost more than most families have. The concept of borrowing money to save money in the long run is not commonly understood here. Even if a family did borrow the money to buy a better solar oven, the payback period may be as long as 2-3 years. And, the family cooking eating/cooking habits would have to change. Cooking could not be done at times of day without the sun, which is frequent now. Most women cook very early and late at night. The actual techniques for cooking would also change. This would require education. Then there are people which just 'do not like the taste of solar cooked food'. The higher cost of quality ovens could be reduced if they were manufactered in Mali. This would increase jobs as well. However, artisans will not initiate this work without a demand for the ovens existing first. Kind of a Catch-22. The accrued environmental benefits may be significant as well. For every oven in use over 20 years, about 40 tons of wood could be saved. It may be possible to secure Kyoto Protocol credits also if Mali reduced their emissions. So there you have it, an obvious solution that at times seems impossible to implement.  Perhaps things need to get worse here before people will change their lifestyle habits. For example, if wood became extremely scarce and expensive, perhaps people would be more open to altenative forms of cooking.  Do you know of any other countries that are not making 'obvious' changes for the good of their societies and the environment?