For that reason, wind and solar power company Clean Currents is supporting Solar Cookers Internationals to raise funds to purchase and distribute solar cookers in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Clean Currents will donate a portion of proceeds from every residential wind power enrolment. The campaign, which is part of SCI yearly efforts to raise funds, lasts until January 12, the first anniversary of the earthquake.
The situation is grim in Haiti. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), only 12 percent of Haiti’s population had piped, treated water before the earthquake, and now the situation is worse. Access to boiled drinking water is the most effective deterrent to cholera, which is spreading quickly throughout Port-Au-Prince’s slums and displaced persons camps.
“Solar cookers are cheap, simple, and easy to maintain. By harnessing the abundant power of the sun, solar cookers provide a measure of independence to those who use them – and they decrease a user’s reliance upon traditional sources of cooking fuel like charcoal, which is costly and very polluting,” said Gary Skulnik, Clean Currents president.
Solar cookers work by reflecting and concentrating the sun’s rays onto a black cooking pot, insulated by a clear plastic bag that traps the heat. These concentrated rays can boil water or cook most types of food.
The cookers could also help diminish demand for charcoal for cooking purposes, a leading cause of deforestation in a country whose environment is already highly degraded. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Haiti has lost over 80% of its original forest cover. Haiti experienced severe flooding earlier this month as Hurricane Tomas swept over the western portion of the country. This has become an increasingly common occurrence there because trees of all sizes are felled and burned to produce cooking charcoal.
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