A trip to a local farmer's market yesterday introduced me to an innovative solar technology: Solar Ovens. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of these - about ten feet high - sitting on a cart next to a bakery stand. Inside the oven's glass door hung a temperature gauge reading 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and beneath that, a pan of puff pastry triangles browning. The oven itself looks like a gawky satellite dish.
The young bakers running the stand bought the solar oven and use it at their commercial bakery space in East Oakland, where the sun shines clear year round. (they have regular bakery ovens inside for rain and fog). The bakers also sell the home versions: $225 shipped for an appliance that folds up to the size of a small suitcase (or large microwave oven).
The technology was developed by a Rotary Club member in the Midwest interested in a project for developing countries; Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico helped refine the design.
One of the many benefits of the oven is to help reduce deforestation worldwide. People can use solar power for their cooking needs instead of stripping the countryside for fuel.
Here in California, a solar oven makes sense in many ways. We can use it in our sunny urban back yard at any time, or take it along if we happen to go camping. If a big earthquake knocks out our gas lines (or worse) we can still cook. With the price of natural gas going up, and the percentage of imported gas climbing, we may soon find solar cooking economically necessary. Furthermore, any technology that reduces the use of fossil fuel is a good thing.
Read the Sun Oven FAQ.
Bay Area readers who want to see the Solar Oven in action should go to the Friday Farmers' Market in Old Oakland. The Solar Bakery stand is right in the middle of Washington Street at 9th. They also sell at a farmer's market in San Jose on Sundays, at the La Rochelle Winery on Evergreen.
I wonder if this kind of oven would make sense in the Middle East.
Posted by: Jonathan Edelstein | September 14, 2004 at 12:47 PM
Naturally it would. Just because some Arab countries have lots of oil doesn't mean the rest of them are swimming in it. I can imagine many households could use the ovens on their rooftops, even in urban areas.
Posted by: Leila | September 14, 2004 at 03:07 PM
I wish we could get hold of a solar oven when we move to Wales in the near future (I'm in England presently)... but I don't think the weather there would fuel it! Solar fueled things are brilliant, if the technical people could work harder on storage of the heat and on bringing down the costs, maybe it could be used more widely. How about a solar powered desalinator to use sea water for drought-ridden areas, too.
Posted by: sophyQ | September 15, 2004 at 11:18 AM
Hi - I'm in Wales and I've used my solar cooker to cook two meals and bake bread in one day!
I'm currently doing a project on Solar cooking and will be testing it out some more soon!
Posted by: Sandra | January 29, 2006 at 08:55 AM
i cant wait to use this info on my solar cooker project for skool.Thanks
Posted by: Haley Henderson | April 06, 2006 at 05:07 PM
Hi! I wandered over here via your note in Informed Comment.
I'm in Seattle, and I use a solar oven in the summer. (It doesn't rain all the time here, quite.) It was absolutely marvelous during the recent heat wave. Aside from its environmental advantages, I think it's the most comfortable hot-weather cooking method I've ever seen. No heating up the house; no fiddling at a hot grill; no choking on charcoal smoke. I wish I'd gotten one years ago.
Posted by: Cam | August 06, 2006 at 12:15 PM
Do you know the name or location of this bakery, or whether they still exist? I would really love to talk to them...
Posted by: Janet | October 31, 2008 at 04:10 PM