Interview With A Solar Chef
I first wrote about Stephen Kerr’s Sun Baked solar ovens in an Ecospace article last September. Steven started Sun Baked to bring products to Canadians that can help them use more solar energy on an intimate, human scale. It’s an interesting fact that Toronto has just slightly less solar insolation than Miami Florida!
Solar cooking allows people to use solar energy in their everyday lives, for a low up-front cost – and zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Steven kindly responded to a few questions I had about solar cooking and cookers.
After purchasing a solar cooker, do you recommend that people keep their traditional ovens for sunless days?
Stephen: “Yes. There are no solar applications that replace “on demand” instant energy from fossil fuels. Right now, solar ovens serve as a good substitute for fossil fuel powered cookers when the sun is shining. When there is no sunlight, then conventional, fossil fuel burning methods must be used.
However fossil fuels won’t last forever, and prices reflect that? We are already seeing developing nations priced out of the global market for oil energy, because they can’t afford those prices. So one day, we will all need to adjust our consumption patterns to fit with the flows of renewable energy available to us. This will be a totally different set of behaviors from those presently considered ‘normal.’”
Can you solar cook in winter?
“Yes, if there’s full sun. The parabolic cooker is most effective in winter. On December 21, 2006 (the shortest solar day of the year) I made my coffee and fried up vegetables and a vegan patty for lunch. You can see it on my blog at cookingwithoutcarbon.blogspot.com. Solar cooking can be done in winter from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and in summer from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Smaller amounts of food by weight can be cooked in winter vs. in summer.”
Does solar cooking take longer than conventional cooking?
“Food cooked in a solar oven will take a few minutes longer, again depending on the amount of solar energy falling on the reflectors. Food cooked on a parabolic grill in full sun in the summer will take the same amount of time to cook as food on a high gas flame.”
Do you think people will have trouble adapting to unreliable energy in this fast-paced world demanding instant satisfaction?
“Yes… People expect energy on demand. They flip a switch, and expect there to be light. They expect their homes to be warm enough in winter so that
they can walk around comfortably in their underwear. However, they forget that we’ve never had it so good – not ever in human history has life been this comfortable for so many. The only reason for this is because we can use the intense, concentrated energy in fossil fuels to power our lives, from heating our homes to fertilizing and cooking our food.
When those rich, concentrated sources of energy go away because we’ve depleted these resources – and they will go away in our lifetime -people will have an extremely difficult time adjusting to what is basically an 18th century standard of living…
The psychological barrier is very powerful. We’ve been taught that technology can solve all our problems, and that the future will be better than the present and the past. I’ve studied these issues for years, and my conclusion is that the only future we have are as farmers and tenders of the earth, and that all of our high technology is destined to be subject to the laws of entropy and thermodynamics – it will become useless.
As somebody smarter than me once said, you can do anything, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the laws of thermodynamics. Unfortunately society’s current expectations about the future do conflict with those laws.”
Learn more about Stephen Kerr’s Sun Baked solar ovens and solar cooking.
Tags: 917, cooker, cooking, food, fossil-fuels, renewable-energy, resources, solar, solar-oven
Mar 19, 2008
If I bought a solar cooker, it would be more money than I pay in my on-grid electrical bills for a year. Wayyyy overpriced!
Mar 19, 2008
You can make your own solar cooker for very very cheap, Laurie. Heck, with as little as a piece of glass (or an oven baking bag), two boxes, tape, glue, and aluminum foil, you can make one.
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Minimum_Solar_Box_Cooker
But generally it’s more effective if you spend just a tiny bit more money (like for a good insulation and a good glazing)
Mar 19, 2008
I found this “pizza box solar oven” project online: http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm
Mar 19, 2008
Hi Everybody! It’s Stephen Kerr here.
I just wanted to address the comments people have made, which I understand and appreciate.
If you’re going to make your own solar cooker – good luck! But just don’t expect the cooker to last very long, or to achieve the high temperatures that engineered cookers can attain. It’s not as easy as it looks.
And the solar cooker is not overpriced. If it were priced any lower, I’d go out of business. It amazes me that people expect a solar cooker – or a solar water heater for that matter – to pay for itself in terms of the current $ value of the energy it generates in less than a year. Do we ask other appliances to do that? No. If people are going to distribute solar cookers or any other renewable energy product within the limits of our current economic system, we have to be able to make a living doing it. If you think my price is expensive, you should see what my costs are!
I spent a great deal of money testing all of the commercially available solar cookers in order to find the best ones and bring those to the market. There are Ladas out there for sure. I only deal in “Prius.”
Mar 20, 2008
Stephen,
I appreciate you have to do that for your business, but I’m just an avid advocate of DIY as much as possible. My family made its own cooker that we used for over a decade with inexpensive materials and I know we cooked several Thanksgiving turkeys in it.
However, if someone just wants to try it they can try something cheap that’ll last maybe a year or two, but was a minimal investment.
Then, if they like it and find it useful and want something of better quality and performance, they can purchase an engineered one.
Mar 22, 2008
Just gotta weigh in here.
The same plaintive cry about renewable energy appliance costs echoes from the chorus of the uninformed.
If you are of a mindset and possess mechanical skills and are meticulous in design and structure development and you have the time….Why not build your own??
You can buy pv cells and build your own photo-voltaic panel too….Way cheaper than a commercial model.
But if you are a person of sufficient means and inclination why not take advantage of a long term investment that can only become more valuable as energy prices increase??
Thank you for offering these very durable appearing, planet friendly solar cookers Mr. Kerr (you’re probably a distant relative of mine). But please don’t discourage innovation and try to supress the pioneer spirit of self sufficiency.
Mar 27, 2008
Yet another perspective for this dialog: Our organization (Solar Household Energy) was founded to disseminate this technology in the developing world, with a low-cost engineered product (the HotPot). There are trade-offs on cost and capacity; our product, mass produced in Mexico, strikes a balance and we are making progress in sustainable distribution models in poor countries. The HotPot is sold in the U.S. for about $100, but a lot less in Latin America and Africa. It won’t cook in Canada in the winter — nor is it designed too, however.
Mar 27, 2008
I’m surprised there aren’t more Gaviotas-style cafes in the world. Those South Americans have active-s0lar systems which pump a recirculating high-temperature fluid to the kitchen. Think: solar-heated cappucino machine.
May 05, 2008
I am really interested in purchasing your solar bbq. How much in US dollars and the shipping to 32534 Florida in the US?
With what is your disk coated? Aluminum or Mylar?
Thanks
May 06, 2008
For shipping quotes, please email directly to setphen.kerr@solarcooking.ca.
The parabolic reflector is aluminum (as is the frame etc.) coated with a thin ceramic layer that protects the aluminum against salt degradation (can be used by the sea.)
Stephen
PS. Building your own PV system as some here suggest is even more dangerous than messing about with parabolic reflectors. All electrical work should be done by a certified electrician, and a solar system by a NABCEP certified or CANSIA certified installer. All others play at their own – and often others’ risk. By all means – go get trained. The industry needs qualified installers desperately. But DIY solar electric and thermal systems I have seen done by amateurs never work as promised. These systems can put others at risk, and are most often a waste of capital – despite the good intentions of the builders.
S
May 23, 2008
good solar cooker i think solar chef is effictive.i hope to work togther i have idea for solar cooker nice to meet u
bye
good luck