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For ages solar cookers were made use of in 3rd world countries where electricity and gas was not readily available. Nowadays various solar oven designs are not only used in these regions to make food, but also to boil water for purification.

And like other solar technologies, there’s no reason first world countries should not promote solar cooking at home to help save energy. Although cooking may take four times longer than conventional ovens, no electricity or fuel is used - just the power of the sun.

A number of interesting solar oven designs have been made over the years, but they typically take one of three forms: parabolic design, panel design, or box design.

Parabolic Solar Cooker:

With the parabolic shape, reflective metal alloy is put into a bowl-like shape, where the sunlight is then focused on a single point. The advantage of this type of design is that it efficiently uses the sun’s energy to cook food in the shortest time possible. The only drawback is that it is usually a fixed structure that is hard to transport, and it is the most expensive of the three.

Panel Design:

A panel cooker is any cooker made with a series of flat, reflective panels arranged to direct sunlight to a focal point.

The advantage of the panel shape is that it cheap to build, it can be folded away when not used, and therefore it is great for traveling. It may not be as effective as a parabolic design, but you can simply make one by shaping one of those foldaway windscreen blinds into parabolic shape.

Box Design:

The final shape is the box cooker. The concept behind this solar oven design is very different to the parabolic and panel cookers. Here, the cooker works by absorbing sunlight through perspex, trapping that sunlight and heat in the cooker, and creating more heat as more light streams in.

What makes the box cooker appealing is that is really easy to make - the simplest design requires a cardboard box, a piece of clear glass or plastic, and tin foil - and it can cook a large portion of food at a time.

What I like most about solar oven designs is that they can be put together with simple materials found at home in the course of an afternoon. It’s a fun project to do with your kids, and the shapes you come up with are really limited to your imagination. And do not just think your solar cooker is only good for boiling water or steaming vegetables. People have successfully roasted meat in them and even baked bread. Another pro is that your solar cooker will be outside when used, so it will not cause your whole kitchen to heat up and put strain on your indoor cooling system - another way it helps you to conserve energy.

And if you think that over 75% of American households use their oven or stove on a daily basis - a tremendous amount of energy could be conserved if more of us used solar oven designs during summer.

So why not solar cooking out for yourself. You really have nothing to lose. If you are not willing to spend money on a professionally made design, why not build one at home with the kids - the internet provides a whole host of free blueprints and instructions, so try it out and have fun saving power.

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