What is the perfect solar cooker? How should it work and perform? And more importantly, should it be cost effective and comparable to more conventional cooking methods, thus offering an alternative to our current reliance on fuel sources?
Solar ovens, also known as solar cookers, fall into 3 distinct categories; the box solar cooker design, the channel design and the parabolic cooker design. Each design offers its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.
Taking these factors into account, the pros and cons of what the end user needs are must be weighed. The predominant market for solar cookers includes developing countries, Tibet (lack of firewood), China and India.
The western world is now beginning to take advantage of solar cooking with the advent of peak oil prices beginning to affect us all.
The most popular solar ovens currently on the market include:-
Global Sun Furnace
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It is used in over 126 countries around the world and is reported to be the most popular solar oven on the market.
The oven costs approximately $249 (US), however if you live outside the US, shipping to the UK, for example, is an additional $302. Total amount to pay $551.
The box design means that the oven does not require frequent adjustments to point at the sun as often as the other designs do.
Firing temperatures reached 360-400 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the temperature drops rapidly when food is placed in the chamber as hot air escapes, so reaching optimum cooking temperatures can take several hours.
Rated 2 out of 5
For more information visit sunoven
Sangli spotlight and solar cooker
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Produced in China, these solar cookers adopt the parabolic cooker design. They have a reflective surface of 2 square meters which is equivalent to approximately 1000 Watts. 5 kg of water can be boiled in 20 minutes.
The Sangli solar cooker is similar in design to the Spotlight solar cooker which reportedly sells 80,000 units a year, efficiently, to China and India.
The cost of the Sangli Solar cooker is $105 plus shipping. Once again, the shipping costs exceed the cost of the cooker, since the weight of the oven is approximately 50 kg. A minimum order of 10 units is also required.
High firing temperatures are reached: 800 degrees Fahrenheit and a tracking device can also be purchased to automatically track the sun.
Overall this is an excellent solar cooker, however its bulky size and weight limit the overall potential this oven can achieve.
Rating 3.5 out of 5
For more information visit chinasangli and sz-wholesale
Post a review on the Sangli solar ovens and spotlight.
Solar HotPot Cooker
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My favorite because of its durable, lightweight, easy-to-use design, it’s also a cost-effective solar cooker at just $99.95. Solar Household Energy is a non-profit corporation.
The only downside to the HotPot is that the food takes a long time to cook due to the open panel box design, similar to the SunOven, once the food has been accessed it takes a long time to reach optimum cooking temperatures due to the greenhouse (air hot) bag method adopted.
The HotPot is available with two types of reflector; one made of aluminum foil adhered to heavy cardboard and the other, Morning Star, is made of anodized aluminum. These offerings maximize global sales and cater to the people who need this technology the most: the Third World and also cater to happy campers: the Western World.
Temperatures inside the HotPot solar cooker can reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit. This type of cooker is used in NGOs and disaster relief situations.
Rating 4.2 out of 5
For more information visit she-inc and SolarCookers org
KEEP IN MIND:
More than 14 million young children die each year and life expectancy in many countries is less than 50 years. This is due to poor medical care, lack of drinking water, respiratory and eye diseases due to the smoked cooking conditions in closed spaces. Malnutrition is another key factor. Lack of food due to fuel shortages and the practice of cooking in one pot (separate weaning foods cannot be prepared).
Many families are forced to spend more on cooking fuel than they can afford to spend on food.
All of these factors result in the needless death of many millions of lives. Solar cooking can help reduce this unnecessary waste of human life. Third world governments are unable to help their poor citizens due to the high interest rates associated with their foreign debts accumulated in the last decade.
As bleak as the above situation may seem, there is hope for the world’s poor. There must be hope, or else humanity will perish.
