Solar cooker -- A viable technology for cooking family meals: An empirical study over two years
- M.S. Univ. of Baroda, Vadodara (India). Home Management Dept.
A solar cooker is a promising renewable energy technology for domestic cooking. A detailed study to assess cooking performance of boxtype solar cooker was carried out during different seasons, viz., pre-winter, winter and summer, over a two year period. The standard menu identified through sample survey of 100 urban families was solar-cooked and cooked in saucepots on coal and kerosene stoves. The ideal period to start solar cooking morning meal fell between 10:00 to 10:30 hours to serve the same around 12:30 hours while loading cooker between 12:00 to 13:30 hours resulted in ready-to-serve evening meal by 14:30 to 15:30 hours. Solar cooking retained nutrients to a greater extent than conventional cooking. The payback period of the cost of a solar cooker at the current price ranged between 260 to 400 active solar cooking days depending on the fuel solar cooker replaced. The paper discusses at length various aspects related to performance of boxtype solar cooker, economics of switching over to solar cooking and policy issues to enhance popularity of solar cooker as an attractive option to combat domestic cooking fuel crisis.
- OSTI ID:
- 109905
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950725-; ISBN 0-89553-167-4; TRN: IM9543%%206
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SOLAR `95: national solar energy conference: 10,000 solutions - paths to a renewable future, Minneapolis, MN (United States), 15-20 Jul 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Solar `95: Technical papers. Proceedings of the 1995 annual meeting of the American Solar Energy Society; Campbell-Howe, R.; Wilkins-Crowder, B. [eds.]; PB: 456 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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