chapter 6: community perception of renewable energy
Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) supported a solar cooker field test in selected areas of South Africa. The objectives of the field test was firstly to establish solar cooker use rates amongst participating households, secondly, on the basis of user preference, to select solar cooker models for local manufacturing and thirdly, to support efforts to establish a local manufacturing base of solar cookers in South Africa. Solar cookers were seen as a logical solution to the problems associated with household fuel use. Traditionally, fuel wood has been regarded as a free good, harvested from the natural vegetation. Over-exploitation of the resource results in denudation, environmental degradation and scarcities for households. Wilson and Ramphele (1989) provide a thorough overview of area reports dealing with the difficulties of collecting adequate fuel wood – average walking distances was between 5.6 and 9.6 kilometres with head loads weighing on average 30 kg. The implication of travelling long distances to collect firewood is that women and girls, who are mostly responsible for fuel wood collection, have less time to spend on other activities and are exposed to various dangers associated with fuel wood collection, for example animal attacks, rape and abduction. Apart from the benefits that can be realised for fuel wood users, solar cookers can also benefit commercial fuel users in terms of monetary savings. The DME/GTZ solar cooker programme emphasised that solar cookers should not be promoted as a single solution to the problem of cooking energy, but that a solar cooker should be viewed as an add-on appliance in a suite of cooking options available as part of the multiple fuel use pattern in low-income households. Various solar cooker prototypes, selected based on their performance in a technical test in Almeria, Spain in 1994, as well as one locally produced solar cooker, the Sunstove, were tested in three areas in South Africa. The test areas were Onseepkans (deep rural, un-electrified area in the Northern Cape); Pniel (a rural area but with reasonable access to commercial centres, un-electrified in the Northern Cape) and Huhudi (a peri-urban area with access to electricity) in the Northwest province. A total of 100 families participated in the test, 70 used the solar cookers on a rotating basis while 30 non-using families served as a control group. To determine if solar cookers are acceptable, the rate at which the cookers are used, have to be investigated. Solar cooker use rate is defined as the number of times a household opts to use a solar cooker (either on its own or in conjunction with other fuels) to cook food, therefore, the use rate percentage refers to the number of times a solar cooker was used out of all the household cooking incidences. It should be noted that households do not necessarily cook three times per day, but rely on pre-prepared food such as bread and left-overs from some meals. A number of different studies investigated solar cooker use rates during the course of the field test and after, and these studies reported varying use rates, ranging from 38% to 31%. If the average reported use rates for the various studies are accepted, an average use rate of 31% is indicated. The standard deviation was 5.6%. Therefore, if it is accepted that solar cooker use rates are over-reported as is often suspected, rather than under reported, solar cooker use rates can be accepted to be between 31% and 25% (Wentzel 80
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