Solar cooking is the simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food without consuming fuels or heating up the

kitchen. It reduces the use of traditional fossil fuel used for cooking e.g. wood, gas and reduce carbon footprints. It uses sunlight as its energy source. Because they use no fuel and they cost nothing to run, humanitarian organizations are promoting their use worldwide to help slow deforestation and desertification, caused by using wood as fuel for cooking. Solar cookers when used properly & safely can conveniently cook all types of food, including meats, grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits. Harmful food microbes, including bacteria and viruses, are killed when heated to 65C (150F). This is called pasteurization. Food cooks at 82C (180F) to 91C (195F), and is therefore free from disease-causing organisms when fully cooked. Simple solar cookers cook gently at temperatures just above these, so foods maintain moisture and nutrients, and rarely burn or overcook. Some solar cookers can cook at temperatures much higher than this. Solar cookers require direct sunlight to function properly. Shadows, clouds and inclement weather limit their effectiveness.
Solar cooker works on solar energy. Solar cooker is a device for the preparation of food by concentrating solar radiation on the food to be cooked. Solar cooker can directly utilize solar energy or can use deflected solar energy from a large concentration rays surface.Solar cooker consists of a well-insulated box, the inside of which is painted dull black and is covered by one or more transparent covers.The purpose of these transparent covers is to trap heat inside the solar cooker. These covers allow the radiation from the sun to come inside but do not allow the heat from the hot black absorbing plate to come out of the box.Because of this, the temperature of the blackened plate inside the box increases and can heat up the space inside the temperature upto 140C which is adequate for cooking. i. The outer box: The outer box of a solar cooker may be made of wood, iron sheet or can be simply a corrugated box having suitable dimensions. ii. The inner box: The inner box can be made from galvanized iron or mild steel or aluminium sheet or can be a corrugated box. All the four sides and the bottom of the inner box which are exposed to the sun are coated with black paint. iii. Mirror: Mirror is used in a solar cooker to increase the radiation input on the absorbing surface. Sunlight which falls on the mirror gets reflected from it and enters the box after passing through the glass covers. This radiation is in addition to the radiation entering the box directly and helps to quicken the cooking process by raising the inside temperature of the cooker. The use of a mirror or any other reflecting surface can enhance the solar radiation input to the cooker by about 50 per cent. iv. Cooking containers:

The cooking containers with covers are generally made of aluminium or stainless steel.The containers are painted dull black on the outer surface so that they also absorb radiation directly. v. Thermal insulation: The space between the outer box and the inner box is fitted with insulating material such as glass, wool or thermocol or any othergood transparent material like thick plastic. This prevents heat losses from the cooker. .Advantages: (i) It does not require any cooking gas or kerosene or any conventional fuel. (ii) Simultaneously more than one recipe can be prepared. (iii) Keeps the environment clean. (iv) Less expensive compared to conventional source of energy. (v) Conserves the conventional source of energy. (vi) Constant attention is not required. (vii) Cost of the cooker and maintenance cost is low. (viii) No smoke and no soot hence cleaning the vessels is easy. It consists of a box made of non-conducting materials like plastics, fiber glass or wood. The walls of the box are made thick so as to minimize loss of heat due to radiation. It is painted all black from inside. The box is covered with a thick glass sheet, G. A plane mirror reflector, R is attached in the inside cover of the box. The food to be cooked is kept in a container which is painted black from outside. The container is kept in the box and it is then covered with glass sheet. In order to cook the food, the assembly is kept in the sunlight and the reflector R is adjusted in such a way that a strong beam of light falls on the cooker top after reflecting from the mirror. The sun rays after passing through the glass sheet are absorbed by the black surface of the box. Once the heat rays enter the box, glass sheet does not allow these to escape. In this way more and more heat gets trapped in the box and a temperature of 100C-140C can be reached in two to three hours which is sufficient to cook the food like rice, dhal and some vegetables kept in the black containers. Thus, these cookers can be used to cook food items that require slow heating and not for frying etc.
Concentrating sunlight: A reflective mirror of polished glass, metal or metallised film concentrates light and heat from the sun on a small cooking area, making the energy more concentrated and increasing its heating power.

Converting light to heat: A black or low reflectivity surface on a food container or the inside of a solar cooker improves the effectiveness of turning light into heat. Light absorption converts the sun's visible light into heat, substantially improving the effectiveness of the cooker. Trapping heat: It is important to reduce convection by isolating the air inside the cooker from the air outside the cooker. A plastic bag or tightly sealed glass cover traps the hot air inside. This makes it possible to reach temperatures on cold and windy days similar to those possible on hot days. Greenhouse effect: Glass transmits visible light but blocks infrared thermal radiation from escaping. This amplifies the heat trapping effect. Solar box cookers attain temperatures of up to about 165 C (325 F), so they can be used to sterilize water or prepare most foods that can be made in a conventional oven or stove, from baked bread to steamed vegetables to roasted meat. When solar ovens are placed outside, they do not contribute

unwanted heat inside houses.