Solar cooking is a method of cooking food and boiling water using only the power of the sun and a solar oven or solar cooker. Solar cookers use no other fuel source except for the energy emitted from the sun.


Solar cookers concentrate the sun’s energy using various techniques such as the box, parabolic or trough design. All these designs in essence do the same job in that they heat food or boil water by concentrating the Sun’s energy onto a pot filled with food or water.

Solar cooking can be used to cook almost any kind of food, pasteurize water (water heated to 65C – safe to drink). The process of solar pasteurization kills 99% of the germs present in contaminated water.

The popularity of solar cooking is increasing in many market sectors, in particular the 3rd World where daily cooking for many requires fire, fuel gathering and frequent attention to food being cooked and the added cost of buying in conventional fuels such as coal, firewood or fossil fuels is forcing people to recognize the advantages and benefits of Solar Cooking.

Over 2 billion people, a third of the world’s population, rely on wood-fuelled fires to cook food. Of these people, around 500 million frequently encounter fuel shortages yet live in ideal climates for solar cooking”, says Kevin Porter of Solar Cookers International (SCI).

First World countries are now starting to embrace solar cooking. The camping sector is also recognizing that solar cooking offers a viable, alternative and fun way of cooking food in the wilderness without having any impact on the Environment.

With the rise in oil prices, supposed depletion of fossil fuels Ref: abiotic oil and the ‘peak oil crisis’ affecting us all, it is only a matter of time before solar cooking hits the mainstream and people start embracing this technology as a means of alternative energy and sustainable living.

Oil prices are starting to spiral out of control and ‘peak oil’ is now impacting on all of us.

Now is the time for us to start embracing abundant energy sources such as the power of the Sun and encourage the use of devices like the Solar Cooker, which capture such abundant sources of energy. Thus offering the opportunity for us all to have a free and sustainable means of living.

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5 Responses to “What is Solar Cooking?”

1. Solar Cooking, What is solar cooking, who uses solar cooking, types of solar cooker, Free solar oven building plans, why cook with the sun | SolReka - Solar Cooking and Alternative Energy News Says:
   March 30th, 2008 at 2:10 am

   [...] What is solar cooking? [...]

2. Marilou Lissandrello Says:
   July 1st, 2009 at 2:41 am

   Very interesting post. I never realized that you could cook that way.

3. Eren Says:
   July 15th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

   I completely agree with you. I live in Brazil South America and most people don’t have the means to pay for the fuel. It would be great to have some kind of project that would teach people to solar cook. That would be a way to help them find a cheaper way to cook and therefore save money to buy food.
   Thanks for this informative post.
   All the best,
   Eren

4. VISION BOARDS » Blog Archive » Sunny Way: Thumbs Up! Says:
   October 1st, 2009 at 9:22 am

   [...] Solar Cooking Anybody? [...]

5. my lesbian dating blog Says:
   December 24th, 2009 at 3:10 am

   very informative article, i go camping all the time and some places we have geysers that shoot up from the ground and teh water is boiling hot, we have cooked using that water before many times, works so well, but i know thats just when we go camping and not for every day

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