Vuka Energy Savings, Stanford

Tags: Projects, Hermanus, Stanford, Western Cape, Zwelihle, Climate, Education, Energy, Environment

The Vuka Energy Savings Project introduces low-income households in South Africa to energy saving methods and technologies. Their aim is for as many households as possible to know about and realise the advantages of, using the energy saving methods and technologies available.

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Energy Saving methods for Low Income households

They currently focus on methods and technologies around food preparation to enable households to cook food using less fuel without having to compromise the nutritional value of the food. They aim to expand this to include other household requirements like insulation, heating, hot water and generating energy.

Mobile units are used to reach rural communities and townships to show people how they can cook food using less fuel, including staple foods like samp mielies and beans that need to be cooked for a substantial length of time.

In addition to introducing energy saving methods and technologies, people are introduced to ideas for creating healthier meals and lifestyles. Cooking clubs are formed in each community and follow up sessions are held.

Ongoing research is vital in order for us to be able to broaden their knowledge of the cost-effective energy-saving technologies and ideas available so that their mobile units can share these with the communities they visit.

Vuka Energy Savings is a straightforward method of bringing the benefits of science and technology directly into the homes of the people who can benefit from it most in a way that they understand, and in a way that has an immediate impact on their daily lives.

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#GlobalGoals 7 – #AffordableCleanEnergy Organisations like the Vuka Energy Savings Project and Sizabantu Solar Energy are making it happen in rural communities of South Africa. The Vuka Energy Savings Project for example introduces low-income households in South Africa to energy saving methods and technologies. Their aim is for as many households as possible to know about, and realise the advantages of, using the energy saving methods and technologies available. Innovative ideas from Vuka for low income households: A WONDER BOX is a heat retention cooker. After you bring your food to a boil, (so it is heated throughout) using any number of cooking methods, you remove it from the heat source and quickly place the pot inside the wonder box. The insulation of the wonder box will slow your food’s loss of heat keeping at cooking temperatures for hours. Using a wonder box reduces the amount of fuel needed to cook your meal because the fuel that would normally be used to keep your food at cooking temperatures after it has started boiling is eliminated. ROCKET STOVE is a stove that makes it possible to cook with small twigs–no logs needed! Best of all rocket stoves are easy to build. The rocket stove was originally developed for cooking purposes where a relatively small amount of heat is required on a continuous basis, applied to the bottom and sides of a cooking pot. Stoves can be constructed from brick, recycled steel cans, steel sheet metal, or can be purchased. Rocket stoves consist of a L shaped tube, at the bottom of which you place your wood. The Rocket elbow can be made from different materials such as sand/clay, pumice/concrete, heavy steel pipe, 430 stainless steel or refractory ceramic. The chimney effect creates a highly efficient, largely smoke-free burn. There's no need to cut down a tree to cook your dinner–all you need is a few small branches or twigs. If you know of any sustainable energy projects in your part of South Africa please let us know.

A post shared by The EXPEDITION Project (@theexpeditionproject) on Jul 21, 2018 at 1:11am PDT