How a Haitian village cooks with sunlight

This sustainable initiative is helping to save Haiti's forests.

Haiti has a significant deforestation problem, driven in part by the widespread usage of charcoal for cooking in Haitian households. This practice is doubly problematic as it also raises health concerns for Haitians who burn charcoal in their homes. One initiative, spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy, is tackling this problem through the introduction of solar ovens. These ovens cook food with reflected sunlight, reducing the burden of deforestation in a sustainable way.

[salokin]

That's actually pretty neat, little pollution, low cost and effective. I hope it gets more adopters

[oggyreidmore]

All these comments saying that this is not smarter than a solar panel - The task is generating heat for cooking. Using solar panels to store electricity in a battery, and then using that battery to power an electric cooktop is FAR less efficient and FAR more expensive than just concentrating the sunlight into a hot spot directly. And for those saying "It's cloudy, you go hungry." Haiti is like Florida. If it's cloudy and raining - wait ten minutes. It will be sunny and bright again. Dinner might be delayed an hour, not two weeks.

[Vox]

This will be the last Vox Borders dispatch from Haiti. Currently in Mexico, exploring the country's beautiful south, along its border with Guatemala. Then heading to Spain. This video is part of a much, much larger project I'm producing. You can check it out on my Facebook page:

-Johnny

[SahanTheMighty]

My father, an engineer, made one of these in the early 80s in Sri Lanka as an idea he wanted to test. As a young boy, I remember watching his first test run at home in our drive way -with steam coming out of the tiny pot of rice he was cooking. It actually worked.

[BigBangA]

Earth: *the sun is a deadly laser*
Haiti : *not anymore there's a blanket*

[emilomatosis]

Aw, the kid spying under the table at 1:48

[Crystal]

Why do people get so triggered when developing nations do something different then Western ones and still succeed? Yall need sort your ego out and realize the world doesn't have to follow exactly in your footsteps.

[oppoppoppo]

It's sad that it took 90% of their forest for them to start using alternative energy. I hope it doesn't happen to other countries.

[adnantariq]

Regardless of the rain, this idea is just genius! Kudos to whoever came up with this simple yet effective idea.

[NJAk]

Glad to see something in the world is working right for someone

[surfie]

I don’t like how short these types of videos are

[rootsm]

I think he's pointing out how resourceful they are being. Most people in desperate situations give up. Of course there's underlying issues that cause this but it's cool and unique for gods sake.

[johntaylor]

I've seen these at emergency preparedness expos. They really do work quite efficiently.

[landonimo]

I really like videos like this, but why is it so short? 😢

[jpk]

Dude, I soooo love your job. So cool, traveling to new and exciting places, learning incredible things. Great videos. Keep 'em coming

[danielwidyanto]

Tried this in Indonesia. It took few hours to boil 1 litre of water under perfect blue sky near the beach. It works for people who can wait for food.

[agento]

The one time I watch these videos about non-english speaking people that I understand them. I feel so proud.

[PepperAQuinn-kjcm]

I remember seeing how to make these sorts of devices in an old book my dad had. The book was printed sometime during the 1970's, so this isn't necessarily a new idea. I always wanted to make one and never got the chance.

[dancheng]

Probably my favorite box series. Another great episode!

[skyearl]

For everyone saying "how is that 'more genius than solar panels?!' listen to this:

Artificially creating temperatur (oven, AC, the refrigirator, warm/cold water and so on) takes the most energy by far. Solar panels are good for creating electricity. For charging or for you lights, TV, Computer. But not for anything temperature related.

This simple dish is a simpler but more direct way to use the suns energy to create heat. Much less energy is lost in the process. It would be great to advance that technology and get a hybrid of this and solar power.