Talk:Solar cooker

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Contents

[edit] Merge from Solar oven

Solar oven should be a subsection of here. I started to merge a while back, but it seems that I forgot to delete and redirect the other page. D'oh - sorry!. And there's been further edits to Solar oven now, so it needs careful merging. --Singkong2005 03:18, 10 February 2006 (UTC) jhfgujfjkgrgcgedghheat" - isn't it already heat? DavidFarmbrough 17:00 (BST) 12 September 2005

Light would go under the category of "radiant energy". It all depends on how you define "heat".

-User: Nightvid

[edit] Reasons for unpopularity

I've read that they're not popular because they involve standing in the sun for hours.

Another potential downside is safety, if the food isn't heated to a sufficient temperature.

Something should be added about these points. I don't really know much about this topic though. --Singkong2005 07:43, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

my 2¢ 's worth: this is pathetic. Has any of these "change agents" ever asked themselves what is going to happen to those Lesotho women if their husbands come home and supper is not ready? You have got to be able to cook a meal regardless of the weather, and this technology fails to address that basic need. Without some way of storing energy, and using that stored energy whenever needed this is bound to be a total failure. Conclusion: perhaps fun to try out on a camping trip when you have nothing else to do, but totally worthless under any other circumstance. JdH 13:42, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

That's a POV that's not terribly helpful of itself for the article. The point about lack of storage is your best one, but any facts beyond the obvious that solar cookers don't store energy and can only be used when the sun is shining would need research and citation. In areas with consistent sunshine they're probably very effective especially if a backup method is available. A large enough collector would probably be useful even in some overcast situations. Anyway, research is the answer and with that expanded information on their lack of popularity and the factors affecting that would be useful. - Taxman Talk 15:29, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
I put in a reference to a review; did you read that? But my negative reaction was really triggered by that term "change agents": If the technology doesn't sell itself by proving itself to be useful then it is counter productive to try to "convince" people. Rather than "convincing" you need to listen to what people's needs are, and see how you can address those needs. JdH 16:19, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
I hadn't sorry. But it's not the highest quality review and not exaclty the highest quality reference of course. Now that I'm on it I'll see what I can dig up. But the change agents stuff is unsourced and should be modified too so you're right on that. But don't forget even good technology doesn't sell itself. Refrigerators had to be sold too, door to door in fact; there was significant resistance to those too. Before things hit critical mass natural resistance to change and lack of information on choices prevents the change. - Taxman Talk 16:27, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] windy day

what would u do if it were a wndy day and u wanted to use the solar cooker that u made?

You would use the firewood that you saved on the days when you were able to cook with the sun. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.19.27.192 (talk) 18:10, 4 April 2007 (UTC).

Mild to moderate winds won't make too much difference with a box style cooker, and even a panel cooker can perform fairly well in some winds, though the panels do catch the wind and may try take off if not secured. A box style cooker also gives more margins as to overcast. A completely clear sky is not necessary to successfully cooking in a box cooker. Since a well-made box cooker holds the heat as well as collecting it, short periods of shade from an occasional cloud going over will not disrupt the cooking process, though it might lengthen it slightly.--SharonID 06:46, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article needs better formatting

somebody practically deleted the whole page, and i got it back up, but there are still some problems. thanks Bobguy89 20:06, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Working on it. I think the basic structure makes more sense now. Blue Rhino 03:30, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] HotPot

I did some looking around about the HotPot, and it doesn't seem like it's worth devoting a whole section to. Maybe we should include it in a list of humanitarian organizations that are solar-cooker related. But I don't think it has enough significance to discuss at length in this article. Blue Rhino 03:29, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

I've also looked at it, and I'm not convinced that it is a solar cooker at all. It seems to be a replacement for using an oven bag and a normal pot in panel cookers (like the CooKit). Does anyone know more about this? Can the Hot Pot be used by itself as a solar cooker? WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:20, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More solar cooker types needed

See solar cooker models and all solar cooker designs list for a list of all solar cookers on Solarcooking wikia (still many of them not imbedded into article. DIY-solarcooker construction and extra models may also be derived from this site

Finally, look into this site for even more solar cookers KVDP (talk) 08:35, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Environmental technology template

I'd like to replace the Environmental technology template with one that matches the standard navbox style, i.e. horizontal instead of vertical, collapsing and typically placed at the bottom of article pages. I've done a mock up of what this would look like at {{User:Jwanders/ET}}. Figured this was a big enough change that I should post before going ahead with it. Please discuss here--jwandersTalk 22:03, 17 February 2008 (UTC)


[edit] External links

Just wanted to give this page's regular editors a heads-up that it's time for a review of the External Links section. You may want to familiarize yourself with the official policy on external links, and I encourage everyone to remove links that do not seem to meet these guidelines. In general, however, the goal is to have:

  • only links which provide "encyclopedic" information about solar cookers (=something useful to student writing an essay for school)
  • no links that are primarily trying to sell things
  • no links that are (or should be) used as references higher up in the article
  • the fewest number of links possible (so that only the "best" links are included)

The goal is not to list all possible organizations, manufacturers, and so forth: Wikipedia is not an advertising opportunity. I've put this article on my list for a day or two from now, but anyone who feels like it can get started now. Thanks, WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:30, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I've just done a quick organization-of-links on the External links section. If you think any are miscategorized, please make appropriate changes. I've also removed a dead link and a duplicate link, and repaired another so that it works again. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:20, 4 March 2008 (UTC)