How to make a solar cooker at home

June 3, 2010 · Posted in Energy, food · Comments Off 

 

Solar cooker baking zucchini bread | flickr user davidsilver

A solar cooker is a  simple way to use and understand a resource Boulder has in abundance: sunlight.  Simple cookers require such basic household items as Elmer’s glue, cardboard, aluminum foil and a glass jar, and can be assembled in as little as two to three hours.

The Boulder company Willow Way, run by Zia Parker, offers a solar oven construction class taught by Jeff Graef.

“One thing that’s good about it is it’s a slow cooker,” Graef said. “You basically don’t have to watch it. You can throw in the food, go out and do some errands, come back and it will be cooked.”

“You can cook a pretty good variety of things, but things that take a long time to cook are more challenging,” he said. “The easiest things to cook are fruits and vegetables.

While a solar cooker might not be able to produce enough heat to cook everything on the dinner table, it could be a fun and energy efficient way to gain more understanding of the power of the sun.

Read more about how to make a solar cooker at the Camera.

-Mikaila Altenbern