Sun Shine Food

When I wrote about solar powered equipments in last article, I got many enquiries about dealers and shops for solar items. Most of these quarries were for solar cooker. So I thought of sharing few more details and possible work items about solar cooker.

Some facts time:

Feasibility:

• The solar box cooker takes 2-3 hours to cook food.
• What is important for solar cooking is not how hot the sun is but how clear the sunlit sky is. In most places in India one can cook for 70-80% of the days in all seasons in the year.
• It can work in winter also as outside temperature or heat is not important. A clear sky with sunlight is enough to cook.
• However, it can not cook fully if it is cloudy or rainy. This half cooked food can be cooked further with normal LPG stove and cooker.
• On a clear day one can even do two rounds of cooking – say from 9 am to 12 noon and again from 12 noon till 3 pm.

Physical dimensions:

• The cooker resembles a square suitcase with two hinged lids.
• The lower half of the box is insulated on all four sides and the bottom and has four cooking pots.
• All the pots are coated black outside with matt finish paint. The cooker weighs about 6-8 kg.

What to cook:

• It can cook almost everything that we cook in normal gas cooker or vessel.
• The cooker can be loaded rice in one pot (it can take 250 gms of rice), dal in another pot, cut mixed vegetables of two varieties in the two other pots.
• After 2-3 hours, we can take them out and do the “tadka’ to make them into complete dishes.
• We can make a meal at near-zero cost in terms of fuel and in terms of the environment.
• One can cook not only food, but also roast nuts, dry vegetables and fruits, pasteurize water and even bake bread on a clear day at noon.

Health and taste:

• Sun cooked food improves cellular health and longevity of life as it preserves natural ingredients due to slow heating.
• People (including me and my family) who have tasted sun cooked food have found that it tastes better than gas cooked food.

 

Price and Maintenance:

• Solar box cooker are available in India at a cost of Rs.1300 – 1500.
• Handled with care, it can last 15 to 20 years or more.
• The only maintenance required is an occasional coat of black paint on the inside of the cooker and on the outer surfaces of the cooking pots.
• In my home, we have observed that with solar cooker, our gas consumption has been reduced nearly 40%. That is saving around 50-100 Rs. per month. With that rate, we are able to recover cost of solar cooker within first 2 years. Then after, it is working absolutely free for us.

If solar cooker is such a useful thing, why don’t we see it nearby too often? There are many reasons:

• Lack of awareness.
• No adequate sunlight at home.
• Due to fast metro life, one needs to prepare lunch early.
• No interest in exploring alternate energy devices once settled with LPG cylinders and stove.

We can work to overcome all these issues, at least in villages where lack of awareness is the main problem. When one starts using solar cooker, it not only helps one financially, it also helps in saving the environment. It is a WIN-WIN situation for everybody.

Government started giving subsidies in early 90s but then stopped abruptly. the ministry of non-conventional energy (MNES)  operates shops through the ‘State Nodal Agencies’, which sell renewable energy devices through ‘Aditya Shops’. Stats wise shop list can be found here.

Aditya shops sell all solar items. However, Bangalore shop has stopped selling items before 3 years due to some reason. The shop attendant however told me that he will give few addresses of dealers who sell solar items in Bangalore. The list of other certified solar cooker dealers are found here.

 

My town is just a Taluka level town; still I could get one dealer for solar cooker. I am sure you can find such dealer at majority of the places.

What can we do here:

• Gift solar cooker to your parents on their anniversary (or earlier than that if it comes in year end !).
• Gift solar cooker to your relatives who can use it effectively. I have seen the best publicity for solar cooker is mouth by mouth. When someone finds that their neighbor is using it and saving lot of bill on gas, it can naturally lead one to buy one for oneself. I have already gifted 3 solar cookers to my relatives. And I am not finished yet.
• Identify your friends and relatives who you think can use solar cooker and get benefited. All you need to check is proper sunlight in case of flats and lunch timing. Inform them about benefits of solar cooker and encourage them to buy it.
• Share information about dealers and shops selling solar cooker. The biggest reason for our laziness is that we don’t want to take pain to search for such shop. Once they get the number, all one has to do is call them and take delivery at home. Simple!
• We can organize a solar cooker camp in small schools or halls to highlight solar cooker facts and give them a taste of solar cooked food. That can greatly help spreading the word.

Some more information links about solar cooker can be found here:

http://solarcooking.org/ : All that you want to know about solar cooking.

http://solarcooking.wikia.com : Informative pages about solar cooker.

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/India : more information about solar cooker scenario in India

http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/SolarCookersinIndia.asp : Main source of data used in this article.

P.S  Surya has 12 names in Indian mythology. Here they are.

1. Mitra                        Friend of All

2. Ravi                          Praised by all

3. Surya                       The guide of all

4. Bhanu                      The bestower of Beauty

5. Khaga                      Stimulator of Sense

6. Pushna                    Nourisher of Life

7. Hiranya Garbha       The creator

8. Maricha                  Destroyer of Dark

9. Aditya                     The inspirer

10. Savitra                  The purifier

11. Arka                       The radiant

12. Bhaskara              The illuminator

 

 

 

Eternal sources of Life

Our ancestors always worshipped Mother Nature and other natural elements with the understanding that they sustain life form on earth. All the mythological Devas were actually natural elements, for example Surya Deva, Varun Deva, Vayu Deva, Chandra Deva etc. Even our Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Indra, Agni, the sacrificial fire; and Soma, the sacred potion or the plant it is made from. Equally prominent gods are the Adityas, Varuna and Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Vishnu, Rudra, Pushan, Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, as well as deified natural phenomena such as Dyaus Pita (the shining sky, Father Heaven), Prithivi, Surya, Vayu, Apas (the waters), Parjanya (the thunder and rain), Vac (the word), and many rivers (notably the Sapta Sindhu, and the Sarasvati River). Well, not only they sustain life form, Sun, water and wind are one of the biggest sources of alternative or renewable energy.

Renewable energy is the energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, water, tides, and geothermal heat. With each passing day, out traditional energy resources like coal are not only polluting the earth, they are also getting extinct very fast. If we don’t find greener natural resources now, there might be a day when we will not have any resources left. The biggest advantage of renewable energy is that they are almost inexhaustible and eternal. Not only that, they are environmental friendly. Renewable energy sources are thus very important now than at any other time.

However, most of these resources require very sophisticated technology with huge funding to tap it. For example, in order to tap wind energy, big wind turbines are required. Only government can do that! Same way, hydroelectric dams tap moving water energy. Clearly not a work of single individual! Not a problem with Solar energy though! It is possibly the only energy source that every individual can tap and use.

Don’t you think it is the solution that remote villages in India desperately need? It can be solar lamp, solar cooker, solar heater and much more. We have used solar cooker at our home for last 8 years and eaten deliciously cooked rice. I have seen many apartments and hostels using solar heaters. Even government is giving subsidies on renewable energy products. But still percentage usage is very less. Partly due to high prices and partly due to less awareness about its benefits. A single household can recover the cost of solar instrument within 4-5 years and then onwards its absolutely free service for them. Not only it is cheaper in longer run, it is also environmental friendly.

 

What government or municipality can do here: 

• Identify remote villages and install solar lamps at public places.
• Distribute free solar cooker to people with specific income range and encourage others to buy them with government subsidy.
• Make it mandatory to use solar heater for big institutions, hostels, hotels where more than certain number of persons stay. There are some countries where such policy is in order. With most of the hostels and hotels covered, it can reduce big amount of electricity usage there.
• Encourage business companies to install big solar panels on the roof to generate solar power. It can reverse supply power to electricity board and get paid for that! Google is doing it quite nicely.
• Encourage educational institutes to do research on solar cells. If cost of solar cells can be reduced, it will make mass production and distribution of solar panels possible.

What individual person like us can do:

• We can generate awareness about this in friends and relatives.
• We can buy solar cooker. It is very cheap and easily available.
• For those with more power and finance, buy solar heater at apartments or hostels.
• If power cut is common at your place, use solar lamp as emergency lamp.

Now idea of the article:

Everyone has seen solar heaters with big Photovoltaic panel. Generally, we need hot water only in morning for bath. However, during full daytime, water is getting heated continuously without any use. Why can’t we utilize this energy to generate electricity and use it for all household usage?

Basically, it should have one switch like functionality to set either for water heating or for household electricity work. That way, these solar panels can be utilized properly.

I sent this suggestion to TATA BP Solar Company. I asked them following:

“If this functionality is not available, I request you to pass on it to engineering team to find our feasibility of this idea. If feasible, it can be implemented which can greatly benefit your organization and our energy starved country India.”  

 Sadly, I didn’t get proper answer. Here is the answer:

Raju, G V (TATA BP Solar)

Pls find the answers

a) Hot water  temp is 60 deg and what is application .

b) Solar PV is different technology. This system is only for hot water. 

Regards,

Dr Raju

From: Prasanna Kumar, H N (TATA BP Solar)
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:44 PM
To: Raju, G V (TATA BP Solar)
Subject: FW: Regarding TATA BP Solar system 

Brain Storming enquiry !!!!!

Any takers for this idea??

 P.S.: As I wrote the article, Union Budget is out there. Solar energy has found a special mention in it. The government proposes to establish a national clean energy fund and is targeting the setting up of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022. Allocation for renewable energy has been increased to Rs 1,000 crore. A separate sum of Rs 500 crore has been allotted for the setting up of solar and small hydro power units. Excise duty on photo-voltaic and solar panels has been waived.  Cheers!!