This article is about the new method of using solar power top cook food. Solar Cookers International (SCI) has invented a cooker made of thick paper, cardboard covered with a reflective material that uses light from the sun to cook. Currently, workshops are held everywhere in the world to teach people how the sun is used to cook. Eleanor Shimeall from Borrego Springs, California is a big benefiter of this invention. She has been using a solar cooker every day for the last twenty years. Every time she cooks, her meal looks delicious. Every time she walks to inspect her pot, she is welcomed by the nicely cooking dish. A job well was done. A solar cooker is her joy!
A solar cooker can be used to cook meat, grains, fish, vegetables or anything that is cooked on a regular stove. A solar cooker saves the environment as well as lives in the developed nations. Experts have declared that in future people will run out traditional fuels. They put it clear that the sunshine is the alternative to fire. It is important to learn about this new method of cooking whose fuel does not get exhausted.
Dr. Bob Metcalf, a microbiologist and a founding member of the Solar Cookers International alongside Eleanor Shimeall and her husband, created this small nonprofit organization fifteen tears down the line based in Sacramento, California. The group has promoted cooking using solar around the world, particularly in Africa. Their aims are focused on two major areas: reduce or stop deforestation and make the life of a woman easier. Deforestation mainly caused by the demand to use wood as a source of energy. Then the question is, how is SCI improving the lives of women with solar cooking? Dr. Metcalf answers it, “women have to walk for about three miles or so to collect firewood, and then they have to tend the fire. The smoke from the fire burns their eyes as well as choking their lungs.”
The World Health Organization has declared that about two million women and children die every year due to indoor pollution. With aid from other interested Human Aid Groups, SCI has already trained over twenty-two thousand families. Families have been taught how to cook their traditional food using the sun energy. The group has been organizing workshops to teach how this cooker really work. Women have been taught how to set up and use this cooking equipment. Also, they get a chance to prepare food for them making a wide range of dishes such as soups, rice, bread, potatoes among others. The fact that the solar cooker resembles a cardboard surprises many. Others are amazed by this “cooking cardboard” after the workshops, attendees are issued with portable solar cook kits.
The working principle of the cooker is just simple. Sunrays are reflected onto the dark pot by the reflective surface that in return absorbs the sunshine. Light energy is converted into heat energy. The heat energy is caught in a plastic window or bag that covers the pot. The heat energy does not get out of the bag neither does it get out of the window. The cooker heats water to make it safe for drinking. This helps to reduce waterborne disease related deaths.
In conclusion, this technology has been useful to humankind. It saves lives as well as the environment (Rayner). If every family comes to adopt it, we will have no trees cut down for firewood; there would be no deaths caused by indoor pollution; water-borne diseases due to lack of pasteurization. There are no disadvantages, simple to manufacture, arguably, this green energy is just nice!
Work cited
Rayner, Lisa. The Sunny Side of Cooking: Solar Cooking and Other Ecologically Friendly Cooking Methods for the 21st Century. Flagstaff, AZ: Lifeweaver, 2007. Print.
Rob Waring, solar cooking, Heinle Cengage Learning,
