In India, especially in rural areas, millions of women spend several hours cooking meals on smoky ovens or open fires within their homes. This smoke emitted from the traditional clay or brick stoves called Chulhas puts their and their family members’ lives in danger.
According to WHO estimates, in 2012, there were close to 1.7 million premature deaths attributed to household air pollution from cooking in the South East Asia region.
Considering all these problems, Dhaval Thakkar, Chief Principal Engineer, Founder, CEO of UNesar Private Limited, invented a solar stove that saves 80% costs compared to LPG and gives you a better and safer kitchen experience with zero air pollution.
The stove uses a proprietary thermal storage unit that stores solar energy to be used within the next 72 hours. The technology allows stationary thermal energy storage in the kitchen. It supports all types of cooking methods like roasting, baking, deep fry, etc., and that too average three times a day.
“At the time, more than 70 percent of India and 50 percent of the world’s population was dependent on chulhas and biomass to cook food. The need for biomass as cooking fuel further led to the cutting of trees. And despite that fact that cooking energy takes up less than five percent of the total energy required, it contributes up to 20 percent to climate change and global warming,” he says.
The stove’s most important feature is the energy stored in it after solar charging lasts 72 hours and is used for three meals for a family.
Thinking about how to charge it in the rainy season? Don’t worry! It comes with the option of electrical charging during monsoons. Its ergonomic design and lightweight system are safe to be moved for indoor and outdoor cooking.
The Solar Stove automatically tracks the sun at high accuracy. Also, it comes with a simple and easy to operate control panel and user action alert system and works with direct sunlight (DNI). The thermal storage comes with a secure plug-and-lock docking system. So, there are no chances of an explosion, short circuits, or fire accidents either.
Solar Stove saves 80 percent of the cost compared to LPG cylinders, which is ten times cheaper than other alternative solutions in the market. It does not emit any additional kitchen heat like the LPG cylinder, toxic gases, or electromagnetic waves and is the cleanest form of cooking energy.
Dhaval Thakkar founded Vadodara-based UNesar Private Limited in 2016. The company is into developing solar stoves. The “U” in UNesar stands for “you,” and “Nesar” stands for “sun” in Sanskrit.
The innovative breakthrough ‘Solar Stove’ is a complete family cooking solution, much more advanced than just being a substitute to LPG, electric stove, and others. The product also contributes to saving 4 million lives/year, reducing deforestation, GHG, global warming, energy poverty, financial poverty, and more that makes it the most economical option for the household.