Solar Cooking
The idea of solar cooking was born in 1767 when Horace
de Saussure who was a French-Swiss scientist built a miniature
greenhouse in which he placed five glass boxes inside one another
and set it on a black tabletop. He then placed a piece of fruit
in the innermost box and found that it cooked nicely, and thus
a new technology called solar cooking was born. Horace continued
his experimentation in which he used other materials, added insulation
and even tried cooking at different altitudes.
A century later a French mathematician named Augustin Mouchot
was interested in finding a practical application for the many
not useful solar devices which were being invented and used the
sun's potential. Mouchot wanted to use the sun's energy to boil
the water for steam engines and won a gold metal in the Paris
exhibition in 1878.
Following the work of Mouchot, during the late 19th century, Aubrey
Eneas, formed the world's first solar power company after building
a giant parabolic reflector in southwestern USA. Eneas also worked
on a solar-powered steam engine in 1892.
The new found idea of solar cooking created a movement that began
in mid-century, but only featured a few isolated attempts to create
interest in solar technology. But, it would not be until the late
1950's, when an M.I.T. scientist, Maria Telkes, used solar thermal
energy to heat buildings an encouraged the movement began to pick
up pace.
Maria Telkes's interest in solar heating eventually led her to
construct what has become known as a classic box cooker, which is
an insulated box made of plywood that has an inclined top made of
two layers of glass as well as four large flared reflectors.
In July of 1987, the Solar Cookers International was founded as
a group of like-minded individuals who shared a common goal of promoting
the ideas of solar cooking everywhere in the world through a means
which is mainly focused on educational aspects. This new organization
on the day it was founded, declared then that at least one billion
out of the world's five billion people could benefit from knowledge
of cooking with the sun.
Before the founding of Solar Cookers International, there had also
been many attempts to demonstrate the usefulness of solar cooking.
One of these attempts was held in the Bolivian highlands, which
is an area where wood was already scarce. There are also two other
organizations devoted to solar cooking.
The first of which was previously known as the Pillsbury Corporation
and the other was a non-governmental not for profit organization
called Meals for Millions. Together these organizations sponsored
demonstrations of solar cooking and also later taught villagers
in third world countries how to build ovens with materials they
could find locally.
Solar cooking allows people who live in any area of the world that
has the sufficient sunlight, to cook their meals with ease, without
the need of burning fossil fuels or wood. From morning eggs to lunch
or dinner as well as dessert, solar cooking can provide the heat
for most meals in most parts of the world.
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