Trainers at Holeta Polytechnic College have developed an exciting project that uses solar thermal technology for designing, building, and using safe, reliable, and user-friendly solar ovens for outdoor cooking and heating.
Solar thermal technology offers a clean and promising solution for sustainable natural resource utilisation. This technology captures the sun’s energy as heat, driving various applications like water heating, space heating, and even electricity generation.
The ovens come in two main designs Parabolic Cookers and Box-Type Solar Cookers. The Parabolic Cookers are curved concentrators which use mirrors to focus sunlight onto a cooking vessel, achieving high temperatures suitable for fast cooking. Their simple construction using bamboo and recycled materials keeps costs low. On the other hand, the box-type solar cookers are made from wood and glass which heat efficiently, making them ideal for families. A typical model can cook enough dry food to feed 6-8 people.
Solar cooking technology offers a multitude of benefits, impacting economies, environments, and households. It reduces reliance on fuel imports, saving foreign currency, creates employment and business opportunities in manufacturing and distribution, and alleviates poverty by lowering household fuel expenses.
It also reduces demand for firewood, protecting forests and promoting sustainable resource use, improves soil fertility and agricultural productivity by reducing reliance on slash-and-burn practices, lowers net carbon emissions, contributing to climate change mitigation. It reduces indoor air pollution, leading to fewer respiratory illnesses and eye problems and lowers the risk of fire accidents.
By Dawit Tadese, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Holeta Polytechnic College
