The solar ovens for cooking are already a reality, although they can be improved. And there is currently a project that has been launched, in which Spanish researchers are participating, which is trying to find energy solutions in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa through photovoltaic energy (directly transforms solar radiation into electricity).
The goal, which is included in the seventh Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda, is to be able to ensure modern and sustainable energy to all the people. And this could be achieved through the affordable solar cooker that is being developed for those African communities that do not have access to the electricity grid.
There are those who dare to affirm that we can be before a new era in the world of cooking, although the truth is that solar cooking has been around for hundreds of years, but never in the way we are talking about now. Because we are not only talking about solving serious famine problems, but about being able to cook at home during the days that it lasts. a heat wave like the one we are experiencing in Spain (and much of Europe) these days. This would avoid having to heat the house even more during the time we are cooking.
Advantages of cooking with a solar oven
To the positive aspects already mentioned we can add some more that will surely attract the attention of those who yearn for a more sustainable world and consequently better.
One of the most characteristic features of these devices has to do with the time they need to cook the food, which is much higher than what we are used to when using conventional (electric) ovens. But, in reality, this is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. Why? Very simple, because you don’t have to stir the food all the time and you will never burn any product. What you do have to be aware of is that the device is placed in the correct position, lest the sun be moving away and the process has to take longer.
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They know a lot about this mountaineers and military, who have had to experiment with solar cooking for years. And not only them, there have also been all kinds of curious people who have wanted to experiment with this technology. Without going any further, there was a Chinese mathematician, during the Qing dynasty, who used mirrors and reflectors to mount your own sun-roasted duck business. And the thing did not stay there, there are currently restaurants in Armenia, Chile or Thailand that say they cook with solar energy.
The problem of current solar ovens
Currently there are already solar ovens as such, which happens, according to some researchers from the University of Córdoba (UCO) participating in the LEAP-RE project, is that “they are not based on the generation of electricity, but on concentrating sunlight with a series of mirrors on the base of the pot.” And, of course, the problem is that they are not it is no longer something very similar to the typical homemade solar cookers that are built in environmental education activities, in which the heating times They are very long.
Hence, what is being considered in the team of Gustavo de Miguel Rojasa researcher at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Applied Thermodynamics at the UCO, is attach a photovoltaic system that generates electricity to the ovens. In this way they manage to shorten, and a lot, the time it takes for the food to be cooked.
And it is that these researchers have extensive experience working with perovskite solar cells, which could allow the development of photovoltaic cells, based on silicon, cheaper than the current ones. The idea, in fact, is to find a material whose manufacturing price is lower and that can enter the dynamics of large-scale power generation. The possibility of finding some hybrid of perovskite and silicon that allows generate cheap and powerful enough energy to supply a small oven and cook food in less time.
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