Project R-14064

Solar Cookers for All (Education)

About 2.4 billion people in the world cook over wood, animal waste or charcoal fires because they lack sustainable fuel (solarcooker.org). While doing so, they inhale the smoke and soot known to cause health problems. This SI project wants to co-create solar cookers together with the most vulnerable communities in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to harness free solar energy so that they can breathe clear air, drink safe water, and preserve the environment. The specific goal of the project is to design inexpensive solar cookers for domestic use. Solar cookers are commercially available but often need to be imported and transported over a long distance and are typically very expensive. On top of that, they are not necessarily adapted to the local needs of families. Therefore, an important constraint of our project is that the novel solar cookers should be made locally from recycling material that is easily accessible and responding to the local needs. At the same time a business plan for local small companies will be developed so that they can be manufactured locally and distributed at low costs. To create these inexpensive solar cookers, the project will start-up a multidisciplinary research and development line within the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU, DRC), in cooperation with UHasselt, to test new prototypes. To achieve this, relevant interdisciplinary expertise from many different faculties at both universities will be integrated and the project will enable a maximum exchange of expertise. This project is considered successful when the team in UNILU reaches international recognition on R&D of solar cookers, with the assistance of the team in UHasselt. We are convinced that our inexpensive prototypes will be fit for small businesses to produce and sell anywhere in DRC, Africa, or the world. Finally, the project will facilitate the education of a new generation of students to come up with innovative solutions related to many of the SDG's.

01 September 2023 - 31 August 2025