India is blessed with abundant sunshine. It receives 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours per year of solar energy. Several solar technologies have been developed to harness this renewable form of energy. The solar cooker is an example of a solar thermal technology.

The different types of solar cookers includes the box solar cooker for a family of 4 to 5 members, a community solar cooker for about 40 people and the solar steam cooking system that can cook for people of about thousand.

The world's largest solar steam cooking system, used to cook for around 15,000 people per day, has been installed at a temple in Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh, and is functioning satisfactorily since October 2002.

A solar box cooker is a slow cooking device useful for small families. It can cook four dishes at a time and can save around three LPG cylinders in a year if used regularly. The solar cooker is the most decentralised and compact system possible.

One can use it in a place cut off from the outside world – indeed in Kargil where our Jawans are using it. A total of around 530,000 box solar cookers
have been sold in the country.

The Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA 1979) calculates that the use of solar cookers by about 2000 families for 10 years would mean a saving of Rs 3.6 million in terms of reduced firewood consumption, or Rs. 100 million worth coal or Rs. 8.55 million worth kerosene (as per 1979 prices).

Do-It-Yourself: Build a Solar Cooker

Reflective Panels

1. Draw the outline of the reflector segment and cut the 4 cardboard segments.