Carbon Offset by Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours – Update from TICOS — Posted on: 30/03/2011

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September 2010 – February 2011 Update from Travel Industry Carbon Offset Scheme (TICOS).

Since 2008 Arblaster & Clarke have supported the carbon-offset project Sunfire Solutions Solar Stoves project through TICOS. We offer a carbon offset option on all of our wine tours who kindly wish to participate and also contribute to the scheme for all Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours staff travel.

Sunfire, who run the Solar Stoves project in South Africa, have provided a report from the past year, on the progress of the solar stove project. Their main task has been to raise the profile of the stoves in the project locations within South Africa and to import the latest batch of solar cookers and fuel efficient stoves.

In September 2010, SunFire Solutions ordered 60 solar cookers, 45 rocket stoves and 45 Sunbags so that the project could continue helping communities by distributing them into homes. This shipment finally arrived in December 2010.

SunFire’s director, Crosby Menzies, and his team of stove promoters worked hard throughout the end of 2010 to promote the stoves, their benefits, their cooking functionality and their specific application to individual communities whilst travelling throughout South Africa on a ‘Solar Caravan’, an arrangement which enabled a range of experts to get to communities otherwise difficult to reach. This promotion work has generated a significant interest from women’s groups, which will accelerate the promotion and distribution in the next phase.

Subsidised products:

SunFire14 Parabolic Solar Cooker: reducing cooking times and enables a greater variety of cooking. The TICOS finds provide a subsidy of £35 and micro-finance, which together make it possible for poor families to buy a cooker.

SunBags: SunBags work by retaining the heat of the cooked product or meal so that it continues cooking without the use of fuel, they are also an ideal complement to the Rocket stoves!

SunFire Rocket fuel efficient stove: An affordable comparison to solar cooking, the Rocket Stove reduces fuel costs by up to 70%!

Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours are delighted to announce this progress and wish the Sunfire Solutions team all the best for the future of the project.

If you would like to contribute to this Carbon Offset Scheme whilst travelling on an Arblaster & Clarke wine tour please select the option on the booking form. There is a minimum contribution of £5, that we do not add to the tour price, please indicate on your booking form (in the relevant box) if you would like to participate in this and how much you would like to contribute. Please visit www.ticos.co.uk and see the South African Solar Stoves project for more information on the project.