Using Solar ovens in Austin backyards.....Making use of the heatwave AND saving money on gas as well... (Cool: water heater, camping)

[inthecut]

Interesting concept!

Cooking food using only the heat of the sun - Slashfood

Recipes for outdoor "Sun Cooking"..

Let the Sun Do the Cooking: 4 Recipes + Tips - Gaiam Life

and more..

http://www.cookwiththesun.com/solar.htm

and even more, a PDF from a Texas alternative energy org.

http://www.infinitepower.org/newfact/new96-827-No12.pdf


and here are two more great Texas organizations per alt energy germain to our "hot" state...

www.txses.org

www.treia.org


I'm essentially blown away finding all this.....I'm just learning myself, along with you folks!

[G Grasshopper]

I haven't used one, but it seems like a great idea when you don't want to heat up the kitchen. I have been hearing about these for years in connection with charities who send them to sunny third world countries (to reverse the deforestation that happens when people don't have fuel.)

I was camping once with friends and one of them (a resourceful girl scout leader) made a similar oven with a cardboard box and aluminum foil, and we had fresh baked cookies right there in the woods!

[sunnybp]

I'm not sure the effect of the solar oven, the temperature and time cost...In my experience, the technology of solar water heater is mature. Low voltage electrical appliance are also popular, solar garden light, solar flash light...

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by sunnybp

I'm not sure the effect of the solar oven, the temperature and time cost...In my experience, the technology of solar water heater is mature. Low voltage electrical appliance are also popular, solar garden light, solar flash light...

I recently read that without doubt, the most cost effective solar thing you can do is heating water, as you mentioned. Photovoltaic is really great, but the payback period is long at this point (depending on your power rates, etc.). The small things that you can do outside, like lights and such, are getting better. When they first came out, they were so weak, and required so much sun, they were not worth much, IMO, but they are getting more efficient and less expensive. We use solar flashlights exclusively, mostly because the battery kind are always dead when you need them, and if you keep a couple of solar flashlights on windowsills, you are always ready to go. At some point, I may even be tempted to get one of the solar ovens, just for the fun of it!

[austinite45]

I highly recommend adopting solar energy in Texas.

Hope to see wide acceptance of solar roof top installation in the coming years.

[CATXTransplant]

how do you keep bugs off the food while cooking?

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by CATXTransplant

how do you keep bugs off the food while cooking?

I don't think it shows up well in the picture, but there is a glass sheet over the top of the oven/food. If you didn't have that, a breeze could swipe all the heat out of the oven.

[Trainwreck20]

Of course, you have to remember to figure in all that lost airconditioning as you walk in and out to check on your food . Or, if you cook after the sun is below the tree/house line, you are kind of out of luck....

I have seen these as camping stoves and they look kind of like fun, not sure I would really use them at home.

[atxcio]

Might be interesting to make a bunch of stuff in advance using a larger or several of these ovens... rather than an as-needed thing (which would be inconvenient). Maybe bake like 5 loaves of bread one day in the morning, and use them over the next few weeks... or like make several dozen cookies or something at the same time. Cool thing for the kids to sell in their streetcorner stands. Sun Cookies.

[G Grasshopper]

These make a lot of sense in third world countries, not so much here. Even though it is neat, I can't see using the oven on a regular basis, for the earlier reasons given. But it is a cool (or hot) novelty, and maybe useful on occasion. They do remind us that there is a lot we can do with sun power.