Solar cooker

Solar cooker


Solar Cookers use sunshine as a source of heat for cooking as an alternative to fire.

Solar cookers (or solar ovens) use sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization. Solar cookers offset fuel costs and reduce demand for local firewood. Solar cookers also improve local air quality by removing a source of smoke. The most common designs are box cookers, concentrating cookers and panel cookers.
Solar box cookers consist of an insulated container with a transparent lid. Horace de Saussure developed this design in 1767 after observing: "It is a known fact, and a fact that has probably been known for a long time, that a room, a carriage, or any other place is hotter when the rays of the sun pass through glass." These cookers can be effectively used with partially overcast skies and can typically reach temperatures of 50-100°C. These are the cheapest and most widely used cooker design.

Concentrating solar cookers use a parabolic reflector to concentrate light on a container positioned at the reflector's focal point. These designs cook faster and at higher temperatures (up to 315°C). As with other concentrating technologies these cookers require direct light and must be repositioned to track the sun.

Solar Panel cookers (SPC) use flat reflectors to concentrate sunlight on a container within a transparent covering. Roger Bernard is credited with introducing panel cookers in 1994. This design uses partial concentration and will maintain effective operation with limited repositioning.