Le soleil au service du développement

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The tools

The solar cooker box-types

Discover the working principle on video.

A solar cooker consists essentially of a well-insulated wood box with a window (glass or plastic), through which sunlight can pass.

Within the box, sunlight is absorbed by the black base and walls (offset plate) or by the dark cooking pots, that is to say, the solar energy is converted into heat.

Temperatures of up to 130°C can be achieved with this method and up to 170°C if external reflectors are added.

Easy to construct with materials available everywhere as wood, plywood, aluminium, glass and sheep wool or cotton for the isolation.

The efficient cooker

An efficient cooker is a wood-burning stove. It is easy to construct with low-cost materials. The efficient cookers are low-mass stoves designed to burn small pieces of wood very efficiently.

Cooking is done on top of a short insulated chimney. The stoves are typically constructed out of trash: tin cans, old stovepipes, etc. A skirt around the pot will help hold heat in, increasing the efficiency. The ashes acts as heat insulation.

The pieces of wood or other material burn at their tips, increasing combustion efficiency, creating a very hot fire, and eliminating smoke. The low-mass stove body and insulated chimney assure that the heat goes into the cooking pot, not into the stove.

Efficient cookers can save enormous amounts wood and can cook complete meals while using very few resources. It uses 5 to 8 times less wood then that of traditional cooking methods.

Haybox or Insulated Cooker

After food has been heated to cooking temperature, it is placed into an insulated box where it will continue to cook until it is done. It reduces the use of traditional fuels such as firewood. The use of a haybox or insulated cooker saves between 20% and 80% of the energy normally needed for cooking.

The principle of retained-heat cooking is simple. It consists of an insulated container made of wood, cardboard or wicker basket that can withstand cooking temperatures. The inside needs to be cover with aluminium. The pot is wrapped in blankets, rags, pieces of cloth. It will keep the food warm for several hours.

These 3 tools reduce up to 90% the wood consumption in rural area and up to 60% in cities.

The Solar Panel Cooker

Made with a cardboard box covered with aluminium foil. To cook, put foods inside a black metal pot and cover it with a clear glass lid. It works because of the concentration effect of the solar rays.


Parabolic Solar Oven – Model P14

A parabolic mirror (anodized aluminium) reflects sunrays towards the hearth, where stands a black pot. The pot heats up very quickly and allows any kind of cooking including frying at 200°C. In order to keep as much efficiency as possible, it is better to reorientate the parabolic oven every 30 minutes.

    • Power : about 700 watts
    • Weight : about 20kgs
    • Dimensions : diameter = 140 cm, p=80 cm.
    • Once assembled the parabolic oven is very easy to use and to transport by car. It is a powerful solar cooking tool: powerful and quick (one liter of water boils in 10 minutes when the sun shines).

By request we will send you the worksheet of each of the solar cooking tools. If you would like to buy them, please consult the section “ buying materials”. If you want to learn how to make and to use one of those tools (for private use or for the promotion of them in southern countries), you can partcipate in one of our courses.


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