Problem no. 4: Dirty air
Sun Ovens International is saving trees
and cutting deadly pollution.
By Tom McNichol, Business 2.0 Magazine senior writer
January 26 2007: 2:45 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- The background:
Most of southern Asia is enveloped by a vast cloud of
smog two miles thick - a toxic stew of industrial pollutants,
carbon monoxide, and particles of soot from millions
of rural cooking fires. The "Asian brown cloud"
has been blamed for the deaths of 500,000 people each
year in India alone.
A person cooking over an open fire that's
burning wood or kerosene inhales the equivalent of the
smoke from two packs of cigarettes a day. Respiratory
infections are the leading cause of death in children
under the age of 5 and kill 1.6 million people overall
each year. Three billion households worldwide depend
on wood and charcoal to prepare food, and the global
supply of wood is rapidly declining.
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| Hot
product. Munsen sees a global market for 300 million
solar ovens. |
The solution: Solar power can replace wood and kerosene
for cooking. Sun Ovens International, based in Elburn,
Ill., sells a family-size solar oven for $259 that's used
in 130 countries. A much larger solar cooker, including
a trailer and a set of pots and pans, sells for $10,500
and is designed for schools, hospitals, and orphanages.
It serves up to 1,200 meals a day and saves more than
150 tons of wood annually, cutting greenhouse gas emissions
by an estimated 275 tons per year.
The solar oven uses mirrors to redirect the sun's rays
into an insulated box. The box heats up quickly, reaching
360 to 400 degrees, and can be used not only to cook
food but also to purify water and dehydrate meat.
"Because doing business in some of these countries
is so hard, we found it best to license our technology
to private-sector companies," says Sun Ovens president
Paul Munsen. "We help entrepreneurs set up an assembly
plant and transfer the technology for a royalty payment."
Being culturally sensitive about selling a product
abroad isn't just politically correct - it's good business.
Sun Ovens recognized the value in having its ovens assembled
in developing countries, creating jobs for residents
and building a sense of ownership about the product
and its success.
The ovens were developed in 1985 by Tom Burns, a retired
restaurateur who was concerned about deforestation.
Engineers from Sandia National Laboratories helped refine
the design. Several nonprofits market solar cooking
devices, but there's no real competition from the private
sector. The ovens have been popular in Haiti, where
firewood for cooking is scarce and expensive. Later
this year the U.S. and Canadian military will use them
for humanitarian projects in Afghanistan, and they'll
soon be available in Uganda and Nepal.
The payoff: Sun Ovens has sold about 32,000 of its
family-size ovens and 260 institutional units. Last
year it generated $720,000 in revenue.
The opportunity: Munsen estimates that there's a worldwide
market for more than 300 million family-size solar ovens,
which would generate at least $75 million in revenue
annually, provided that funding for microloans - small
credit lines extended to entrepreneurs in developing
countries - could be arranged.
Thanks to rising fuel costs and growing environmental
concerns, the domestic market for the ovens is heating
up as well, with U.S. sales growing 125 percent this
year. "I see opportunity for solar ovens almost
anywhere it's sunny," Munsen says. Nearly all market
trends are favorable for the product. The cost of kerosene
and propane used for cooking is skyrocketing in developing
countries, making a solar alternative even more attractive.
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