Solar Cooking

	A new way of capturing the sun’s energy...

Traditional Ways

	People have used to capture the sun’s energy was to burn wood.
	Now people can capture more to the sun’s energy by using a solar cooker.

"sunlight is being used by..."

	sunlight is being used by people directly to heat water and cook food. Solar cooking can help to alleviate many of the problems faced by poor families around the world.

Around the World

	Perhaps 100,000 now cook regularly with a solar cooker; but many more need to know about this practical technology if daily burdens on poor families and the earth are to be reduced.

The need

	for new cooking fuels is great. In some regions of the world, 80% of household energy use is for cooking, and the primary fuels used are wood and other plant materials.

Continued...

	These women in Guatemala, for example, spent about five hours collecting this wood. It will provide them with cooking fuel for only two days

History

	Over the last 200 years, many ingenious ways have been devised to harness the sun's energy for cooking
	Box-style cookers with a single reflector are among the easiest to build and use. They are made of two cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, and a sheet of glass.

Types of Solar Cookers

	Multi-reflector box cookers get much hotter, but they are harder to build, and they must be turned more often to follow the sun.

Parabolic Cookers

	Parabolic cookers focus the light onto the bottom of a single cooking pot. High temperatures are reached, but these must be refocused fairly often as the sun moves. Recent designs like this reduce the danger of burns or eye damage.

Do it yourself

	I will give you all a handout showing you how you can go home and make your own solar cooker.
	After you have made your solar cooker, you can then roast, boil, bake and broil a wide variety of foods (weather permitting).