High-tech products do have problems of cost and local technical support, but if they’re durable enough might still be a good solution in remote regions. Here’s a solar absorption house cooling system from a company based in Spain (description is in English): http://www.rotartica.com/pub/ingl/index.html

The small absorption chemical thermos-sized cooler should work with cheap solar sources used to replace cooking fires, as seen here: http://permakent.com/2008/07/25/solar-cooking-for-the-rest-of-us/ Notice I do point out the deforestation/health issues of cooking fires in that post.

Aside from that, cooking fires are hardly free – that fuel comes from miles away, carried by women at great risk and labor, and gained by deforestation. Diseases caused by smoke inhalation from heating and cooking fires are also a major problem, especially for young children. I’d be curious if a solar-heated model would be possible. Also I wonder what kind of insulation the container uses. Could the re-heat interval be lengthened by super-insulating it? Is it already super-insulated?

Sorry if I come across as a spoil-sport, but I feel that the technologies need to be incredibly inexpensive and capable of being made for the poor by themselves. Things like SODIS, CooKits, composting toilets, etc.

If it is as good as it sounds, I’d contribute to a campaign to generate testimonial, hard data , and innovations. We need references to the Stanford and the UK groups that participated, and other relevant data.

Could someone post these reverences and any available contrary views?