by Tim McDonald
For ages solar cookers were made use of in 3rd world countries where electricity and gas was not readily available. Nowadays various solar oven designs are not only used in these regions to make food, but also to boil water for purification.
And like other solar technologies, there’s no reason first world countries should not promote solar cooking at home to help save energy. Although cooking may take four times longer than conventional ovens, no electricity or fuel is used – just the power of the sun.
Over time many solar oven designs have been mastered, but they generally fall into three main categories: parabolic solar cookers, panel cookers, and box cookers.
Parabolic Shape:
As the name suggests, a parabolic cooker is made from reflective material that is molded into bowl. This helps it concentrate the sunlight in one area and effectively cook your food. However, this design typically costs more and it’s rigid structure makes it less practical for traveling.
Panel Design:
A panel cooker is any cooker made with a series of flat, reflective panels arranged to direct sunlight to a focal point.
The panel shape is not as efficient as the parabolic shape, but it has the advantage of being foldaway, portable, and rather simple to make. These cookers can be found in a number of interesting deigns, but the simplest is by far the one made by folding one of those reflective windscreen blinds.
Box Shape:
Very different to the other two designs, the box cooker works by trapping the sun’s heat, instead of simply focusing it on a central point. It is designed in such a way that it let’s light in, but stops that heat from escaping. As more sunlight comes in, the hotter it gets.
This results in the entire area of the box to get hot and be able to cook larger portions of food at a time. This design is by far the simplest to put together – all you need is a black cardboard box with one side covered in tin foil and a sheet of clear perspex or glass on top to hold in the heat.
What I like most about solar oven designs is that they can be put together with simple materials found at home in the course of an afternoon. It’s a fun project to do with your kids, and the shapes you come up with are really limited to your imagination. And do not just think your solar cooker is only good for boiling water or steaming vegetables. People have successfully roasted meat in them and even baked bread. Another pro is that your solar cooker will be outside when used, so it will not cause your whole kitchen to heat up and put strain on your indoor cooling system – another way it helps you to conserve energy.
And if you think that over 75% of American households use their oven or stove on a daily basis – a tremendous amount of energy could be conserved if more of us used solar oven designs during summer.
So get started cooking with solar today. There are a number of commercially available solar cookers on the market. Alternatively you can make your own at home by searching online, where a variety of free solar oven designs with full building instructions are provided.
About the Author:
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Tags: alternative energy, energy conservation, energy efficiency, environment, hobbies, Home Improvement, homemaking, remodel, renewable energy, society, solar cooking, solar energy, solar oven designs, solar panels, solar power
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