Solar cooking

Safe and economical:

By Nilma DOLE
[email protected]
 

As fuel prices skyrocket and as global warming is becoming a problem, an alternative cooking method is needed today.

Solar cooking is now the world’s safest and economical method of cooking food at home. Relatively easy to make at home and requiring the heat of the sun, which is abundant in Sri Lanka is the only solution.

One of the first to put this in motion was retired Major General Kamal Fernando who built his solar cooker about 5 years ago.

“I designed a cardboard and painted it black while sealing the middle to give a greenhouse effect” says Fernando. Then he added four ‘reflectors’- cardboards with foil pasted on it and attached it to the contraption.

The cooking pot was placed inside and covered with a glass pane. After the tsunami, Solar Ovens International donated around 500 solar cookers and 2 bakery ovens to the tsunami-affected villages.

The retired General and his aid-relief team donated their own type of solar cookers to the village of Patankudu, Batticoloa after the tsunami. “You can cook rice, vegetables, bake cakes and even dry fish and vegetables to preserve it because temperature reaches to 250 degrees Farenheit.” he said.

Retired General Fernando related yet another story. “When I went to Kurunegala and told the villagers there that I could cook rice, they laughed at me”. However, when he showed them how it was done, they were pleasantly surprised and wanted to know how it worked. This was when he taught the villagers to be independent and cook their own food better.

The advantage of solar cooking is the safety aspect. For villagers dependant on firewood, the women especially are at risk. There is the problem of finding firewood by venturing into the depths of the jungle.

Then cutting and chopping it takes a considerable amount of energy. With solar cooking, there is no blowing of the embers to keep the fire going or no worrying about lung conditions when inhaling the polluted air. Solar cooking can also provides additional income.

Nowadays, solar panels may be costly but very soon, thin-film solar panels that are light and relatively cheap will be used. “You can use this solar film to put on the reflectors where sunlight penetrates through the oven in order to cook the food”, stated the General.

How to build your own solar cooker
Items Needed
Medium sized cardboard box / carton
Blackened Paper
Aluminium Foil
Plastic Sheet (safer than glass and available at hardware stores)
Non-toxic glue
Non-toxic tape
Scissors
Ruler
Marker
Strong String
Black cooking pot
Procedure

Tape the foil to the inside bottom of the box. Then cover the foil with the black paper by taping it firmly in place.

Put the box on the plastic sheet. Draw the outline of the box on the plastic with the marker. Cut the plastic about 1/4 inch from inside the marks.

On top of the box, draw a line one inch from all the sides. Cut along the front and side lines BUT NOT along the back because it will be the hinge for the flap. Carefully fold open the flap.Cut a piece of foil to the size of the flap and glue it to the side of the flap that faces into the box. Flatten all creases and wipe all any glue smears.

Tape the plastic sheet to the inside of the box. First tape on one side then the opposite side. Make it tight so that it looks like glass.

Cut a piece of string as long as the box. Then tape one end of the top of the flap. Bore a hole by pushing a small nail into the back so that you can tie the string.

Now start cooking!

On a sunny day, rice can be cooked for about half an hour and water can be boiled for 20 minutes. Use the cooker to dry vegetables and fish

Improvise your solar cooker by adding more foil ‘reflectors’, more insulators and painting the insides of the cooker black.