In a recent newsletter to its member-owners, Gunnison County Electric Association, headquartered in Gunnison, promoted an energy-saving way to cook. Here’s the story:
Technology improvements and tax incentives have made solar electric systems more affordable than ever. However, you don’t have to make a large investment in your home or business to take advantage of the sun’s energy. Solar cooking is another way of using this free renewable resource, and it can be a lot of fun too.
Solar cookers are a necessity in many less developed countries where firewood is scarce, yet they have become popular in the more developed world as well. Not only can solar cookers be used when you are camping, they can also be used as educational tools. For example, Gunnison High School industrial arts instructor Wyatt Phillips uses a solar oven to teach students about solar energy and the pattern of the sun’s movement through the sky.
Local Gunnison resident Jan Scheefer often assists Phillips with his solar oven demonstrations by providing the cooking ingredients. Phillips’ students look forward to the classroom solar cooking demonstrations because they are fascinated by the possibilities of using solar energy in their daily lives. But one of the students did admit that Scheefer’s chocolate chip cookie dough is “out of this world.” Two recipe books that Scheefer recommends are Rose Marie Kern’s The Solar Chef: A Southwestern Recipe Book for Solar Cooking and Jennifer Stein Barker’s The Morning Hill Solar Cookery Book.
There are many different models of solar ovens on the market today. The one that Phillips uses in his classes is a multiple-reflector cooker. Multiple-reflector cookers resemble the box-shaped oven that we normally use for baking, but come equipped with four or more reflectors that tilt to compensate for the sun’s position. These ovens can reach temperatures up to 425 degrees in the summer, but baked goods will turn out better if you use dark cookie sheets. Similarly, soups and vegetables cook better in dark, thin-walled pots.
Surprisingly to some, solar ovens can also be used in the winter, but this requires a little more care. Regardless of the season, the biggest challenge is that solar cookers must move in line with the sun in order to achieve maximum solar gain. If your cooker is not automated, it means you have to physically move it yourself every 15 to 20 minutes.
Although this may seem like a lot of trouble, it is exactly why solar cookers are excellent tools for teaching about solar energy and why they are fun to take camping. You can relax while the sun moves through the sky and with a little bit of patience, you can be rewarded with a delicious, sun-cooked treat.
—Vicki Spencer, Gunnison County Electric Association