report from the 1992 world conference on solar cooking in stockton, california 

allan sindelar c.1992 allan sindelar 

the 1992 world conference on solar cooking, sponsored by solar box cookers international (sbci), was held at the university of the pacific in stockton, california in june. the conference brought together solar cooker developers and users from around the world to share designs and strategies for the u.s. and the developing world. sbci began five years ago to spread knowledge of solar cookers worldwide. 

dr. bob metcalf, president of sbci, was at the earth summit in rio de janeiro and reported that 99 out of 100 people there didn't know that you can cook with the sun! problems and solutions in some african countries, 80-90% of the total energy supply comes from firewood. in central america, women look for wood on average between nine and forty hours a week. the wood is rapidly disappearing. solar cooking can play a major role in easing peoples' lives, slowing deforestation, and reducing co2 emissions into the atmosphere. solar cookers must be carefully tailored to a particular culture to be accepted. 

for many of us in the u.s., the first time we see a solar cooker or eat hot, delicious food fresh out of one, our reaction is to see the cooker as a cure-all. we see a wondrously simple solution to problems of fuel cost and deforestation and fail to understand the complexities for the developing world. for example, what can be simpler than an insulated oven made from cardboard boxes nested together? yet one member of the audience at the conference spoke of spending four months in his home country to gather enough cardboard to make a single box cooker. what is abundant scrap to us may be a scarce and valuable commodity to others. 

the keys to a cooker's acceptance are many. design and materials must be simple, the design must be adaptable to the available materials in a particular country, and the design must be easily taught and replicated by a local populace. also, a cooker must be reliable. in the united states, if a meal fails to cook properly, we pop it in our gas or electric oven; for people in developing countries, a failure may mean going hungry. 

cultural attitudes are also extremely important. in botswana, one attempt at promoting solar cooking failed simply because the solar cooker is not used in the energy- guzzling industrialized world. in ladakh, india, solar box cookers were used half-heartedly, but the people, especially young folk, were excited by a parabolic cooker design, "it looks like a satellite dish!" in a village in rural guatemala, a year after being given solar cookers, the were not using them. 

the reason was that fuel gathering was done by groups of women. solar cookers isolated the women by denying them the socializing involved in wood gathering. some favorites many box cookers were displayed at the conference. examples included sbci's own cardboard unit which can be shipped worldwide and john morearty's cabinetmaker's model. the heaven's flame cooker developed by joe radabaugh attracted much attention from both the public and media. made from cardboard boxes, white glue, aluminum foil, black paint, and scrap glass, it is a prime example of what can be done with low-cost and free materials. it also works exceptionally well, achieving temperatures well over 300�f. joe identifies himself as a homeless person, and promotes his cooker as an essential survival tool for a simple, nomadic life. 

one of the designs that attracted the most interest was not a box cooker, but a reflective dish called the sk 12 that focuses the sun's energy on a cooking pot. developed at the state technical college in alt�tting, germany, this cooker is used with several haybox baskets to cook for twenty people. a pot of food is brought quickly to cooking temperature. then the pot is placed in a haybox, an insulated basket made from local materials, that lets the food continue to cook by its own heat. then another dish is cooked in the same way, until an entire meal is ready. the dish is powerful enough to bring three quarts of water to boil in half an hour, and even to allow frying. the sk 12 is well designed. the cooking pot sits in the bowl of the dish, so both the sun's glare and the chance of starting a fire are minimized. the dish rotates on a horizontal axis around the cooking pot. this allows the pot to be shaded while it is being handled to protect one's eyes from the sun's glare. the cooker may be turned away from the sun and left outside when it is not in use. the cooker is designed to be manufactured by local craft workers using standard materials and simple cutting, bending, and punching tools. the demonstration model of this cooker was given away at the conference and is now being used in nigeria as a cooker and as a model for the local development of additional cookers. 

personal impressions: i was struck by the diversity of people at the conference, women and men of all ages and colors and nationalities. many of the speakers focused on the roles that women play. the keynote speaker, waafas ofosu-amaah of kenya, stressed that women are managers of both production and reproduction, as well as community life. she maintained that environmental management is the management of scarce resources, such as food, water, and cooking fuel. all of these things are handled by women on a daily basis. she concluded that women must therefore be integrally involved in any programs to promote solar cooking. i liked hearing this grassroots approach, which was echoed frequently by other speakers. 

i learned that among users of solar cookers in the united states, the main reason for their continued use was not cost or environmental benefit. rather, solar cooking saves time. the cooker may take longer to cook the food, but it doesn't require constant attention. in the morning, food is placed in the oven and it is oriented toward the afternoon sun. at day's end the meal is ready to eat, with no burning and no hot kitchen in the summer. as one man told me, "you come home to eat, not to cook!" 

i was excited by eleanor shimeall of sbci, who uses her box cooker for home canning. she cuts and places fruit and high- acid foods like tomatoes in a canning jar, with water up to the jar's neck. she puts one to six jars at a time into her cooker. the food begins to bubble up in about half an hour. at day's end when the jar cools, it seals. the color is much better than with standard boiling, and the flavor is true. also, the rubber lid seals aren't destroyed by the heat, so they can be used again. eleanor shimeall said that any jars that don't seal by the end of the day can be returned to the cooker the next day. she was careful to caution, however, that this method is not to be used for meats, vegetables other than tomatoes, or any foods that would normally be canned under pressure in order to kill botulism spores. her favorite solar canned foods were plums and peaches. she offers a solar cookbook with many recipes and detailed canning instructions for $10. 

besides solar cooking and canning, beer brewing showed another use for solar cookers. andrew pejack demonstrated demonstrated his solarbrau � delicious solar-brewed beer, brewed in a solar box cooker. the conference was a major success for those who attended and for sbci, and there will be more to come. the next one may be held in india or a country other than the u.s. i learned a tremendous amount in two days, and was very glad i went. 

access author: allan sindelar,120 alta mesa ct., moraga, ca 94556 * 510-284-1368 
sk 12 dish cooker: gerhard jobst, karl-valentin. 20, 8265 neotting, germany * 08671-20523, fax 08671-73114 
joe radabaugh, pob 1296, mt. shasta, ca 96067 heaven's flame: home power, inc., pob 275, ashland, or 97520 * 916-475-3179 
eleanor shimeall, c/o cemese publishing, 7028 leesburg place, stockton, ca 95207