Solar Oven - The Ugly American
Threads on use of solar energy brought to mind a friend of mine who worked for 18 years in Afghanistan and Pakistan among the Afghan refugees on a number of projects including solar ovens.
Firewood was at a premium among these people and many were getting their limbs blown off - looking for wood in mined areas. Solar ovens had been introduced as a way to get around this, but the Afghans were unconvinced, and couldn't be induced to take them - free of charge. My friend was put in charge of the project. A student of human nature, he soon turned the project around.
First, he helped the Afghans to "own" the project. He figured out a number of ways to build the solar ovens with materials at hand. Example: Their insulation came from downed Soviet airplanes. This could be dangerous. They were once shot at while gathering insulation. He hired Afghans to build and sell the solar ovens.
Second, he put a price on the ovens. He knew people were more likely to value something that had a price than they were something that was a "give-away."
Third: He had women do the sales. After showing them how the oven worked, and convincing them of its utility, he would send them out with a number of solar ovens to do demos and take orders.
From that point on, they were unable to keep up with the orders.
The oven would cook two 2-liter kettles of food in two hours on a hot day, and four hours during the coldest days.
