Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet!

Poor man Solar Cooker made with Cardboard Sheets wins a climate change award--助窮人太陽能煮食 「京都紙盒」奪環保大獎

Poor man Solar Cooker made with Cardboard Sheets known as "Kyoto Box" wins a $75,000 worth climate change award. The inventor of this inventiion was Jon Bohmer, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur based in Kenya. According to the inventor, this prize-winning invention can be used to cook food and bring water to the boil under a sunny sky.

(credit due to http://news.sky.com)

09 April 2009

Poor man solar-powered cardboard oven, also known as the Kyoto Box, has won a $75,000 climate change award. The inventor of this inventiion was Jon Bohmer, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur based in Kenya. According to the inventor, this prize-winning invention can be used to cook food and bring water to the boil under a sunny sky.

The Kyoto Box is a simple invention made from two cardboard boxes, one inside the other with a transparent acrylic cover to let in the sun's energy. Between the inner box and the outer box is straw or newspaper which serves as an insulation. The reflective foil on the outer box and black paint in the interior of the inner box ensure maximum absorption of solar energy.

Bohmer named his invention the Kyoto Box, after the international environmental treaty to reduce global warming.

The cooker costs around $5.00 to make and will be given away for free to the 3 billion poor people who currently rely on firewood to cook.

Introducing the Kyoto Box to such communities would cut carbon emissions from burning wood. In addition, there are also sanitary benefits from boiling water to drink.

The invention was pitted against nearly 300 other entries, including a machine that turns wood and other organic material into charcoal, wheel covers that make trucks more fuel efficient by reducing drag, and a garlic-based feed supplement for livestock that reduces the methane they emit by 15 percent.

"A lot of scientists are working on ways to send people to Mars. I was looking for something a little more grassroots, a little simpler," Jon Bohmer said Thursday.

"In the West, we cook with electricity, so it's easy to ignore this problem," he said. "But half the world's population is still living in a stone age. The only way for them to cook is to make a fire.

"I don't want to see another 80-year-old woman carrying 20 kilos of firewood on her back. Maybe we don't have to."

.... CLICK HERE FOR TECHNICAL DETAILS OF ANOTHER VERSION OF SOLAR BOX COOKER 

Chinese version of the news:

"助窮人太陽能煮食 「京都紙盒」奪環保大獎

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090410/4/bmei.html

"助窮人太陽能煮食 「京都紙盒」奪環保大獎

"(明報)4月11日 星期六 05:05

"【明報專訊】想以廉價及環保方式煮食？只需買一個紙盒就可以。非洲肯尼亞一名發明家把常見紙盒改裝成太陽能煮食爐，可助全球數以億計窮人減少燒柴煮食，以減少排放溫室氣體。這項成本僅6美元（46.8港元）的發明，在環保大賽中贏得7.5萬美元（約58萬港元）獎金。

"兩紙盒製成 成本僅HK$46。

"這一設計獨特的煮食爐名為「京都紙盒」（取名源自規範溫室氣體排放的《京都議定書》）。它由兩個紙盒製成，盒蓋包上錫紙集中熱力，盒身塗上黑油吸熱，紙盒內有一個煮食用黑煲，透明煲蓋可助保存熱力及水分。

"在肯尼亞開設能源公司的發明家博默（Jon Bohmer）表示，他希望「京都紙盒」能把太陽能煮食推廣至發展中國家，取代燒柴，「發展中國家人口眾多，他們不可只靠木材及山火煮食，這會摧毁所有樹」。

"評審：有望改善數十億人生活

"在環保組織Forum for the Future舉辦的環保大賽上，評審對「京都紙盒」能在發展中國家立即大量生產，都感到印象深刻。評審馬登說﹕「紙盒有改善數十億人生活的潛力，是一項可大量生產的革新發明。」

(Note: Chinese version of this news is by no mean the exact translation of the English version.)

Keywords: be veg, go green, save the planet, vegan/vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian, ahimsa, vegan meat, vegan t-shirt, vegetarian-restaurant, vegan-restaurant, meat-free, non-dairy, dairy-free, egg-free, no-smoking, no-drinking