You’ve got SOUL – not just a Solar Oven
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain 
on 05. 2.06
You might think it’s still quite a hassle to cook with the sun but for some motivated people here in Barcelona it was a real joy to get together and build 100 SOUL solar ovens last weekend to promote solar cooking and fight climate change. The workshop was organised by the Foundation Terra with the direct collaboration of the Centre for Solar Cooking of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Their objectives are teaching how to profit from renewable energy, spreading the use of this simple but effective piece of technology and of course explaining how to use the SOUL solar oven to get something on your plates.
Dr Michael Götz (the man behind much more than just the only solar crêperie on wheels) redesigned the classic wooden box solar oven in order to make it more efficient, more practical and lighter (from 9.5kg to 5kg). SOUL= Sun | Oven | Ultra | Light. The oven now consists of light and insulating materials, is portable, durable and designed to cook and heat up food and drinks. It can reach a temperature of 100° to 130°, available in blue and red and costs around €180. Michael has set up a production line in Switzerland for solar oven kits that not only makes the different parts from local natural or recycled materials, but also creates work opportunities for disadvantaged and unemployed people. All this makes SOUL a true piece of eco design for those of you who like to celebrate the Slow Food Movement, go camping or love DIY and cooking.
‘Getting closer to solar cooking’ as suggests this sustainable technology workshop, ‘is on one hand a supporting action for villages with no or little energy sources, and on the other hand a direct approach towards the enormous possibilities to creating energy with the sun.’ If you want to organise a SOUL solar oven workshop, contact Michael Götz. :: Fundació Terra :: Centre de Cuisine Solaire de Neuchâtel
Mid July, the Foundation Terra also organises the International Solar Conference in Granada, Spain. More about that next time!
More Foundation Terra projects:
::Ksol Solar Kitchen
::Urban Vegetable Garden
More solar cooking:
::Solar Sizzler ::Solar Cookers International
::Villager Sun Oven
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Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- How to Use a Solar Oven: Beans and Rice Recipe
- Cooking on a Budget: Use Everything
- 7 Great Weekend Solar Power Projects
- How to Use a Solar Cooker: What Works and What Doesn't
- Find Your Dinner at the Farmers' Market: Peas and Prosciutto
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I have a Sun Oven. It looks almost identical to the one pictured here. It has four folding covers than just one. Because of this it can reach a cooking temperature considerably higher than 130 Celcius. For a large number of foods, I have found that you need over 130. For many foods that require over 200(which is about the max for mine in good conditions), I have noticed that the food still turns out ok if left in the solar oven longer. Of course, it takes longer to cook with a solar oven and requires going out every once in a while to turn the solar oven toward the sun. It is good for people who don't have hectic work schedules. I think this type of technology is ideal for third world farmers and peasants who spend too much time trying to find and collect firewood which is causing massive deforestation. They don't need to achieve super high temperatures (I think. Not quite sure what they usually eat.) And they save a lot of time, money, effort and their own health and that of the environment. They can also be used to sterilize water through boiling.
While I think solar ovens are an appropriate technology. 130 euros is far too expensive for those who actually need them
(Third world populations). These people make less than 1 dollar a day. For this technology to become adopted the price needs to be closer to 20 euros. Rochester Institute of Technology is developing just such an oven through the EPA's P3 Design Competition.
I was thinking of getting a solar oven for a backup way to cook if the power ever goes out for more than a day. Also it would be good to be less dependent on the grid.
TD beat me to the punch. While I'm sure it is a lovely product, in order for it to have any affect on the third world the price would need to be several times lower in order to be affordable for third world people.
I think that the SOUL solar oven has been designed for western people with green and healthy attitude. This specific model, lighter, colourful and ready to ship via internet order is a clear example of “GREEN SOUL” product with potential to spread the solar community.
Sure that most of the profits are going to be focused in real solar-solutions for third world population.
I've read articles that say, and show photos, of people in un/underdeveloped and poor areas making and using cheap homemade solar ovens. If I remember correctly they're made of a cardboard box lined with aluminum foil, or some other highly reflective metalic foil. So, it seems you need a box and foil to make a simple solar oven. I imagine you could build one for less than a u.s. dollar.
Dear commenters
Please do not mix stories. Solar cookers CAN be made cheapely in developping countries (still these people have a right to get a nice cooker with a reasonable lifetime). BUT, in order to make them interesting for poor people, the industrialised world has to give the example. Poor people do not dream of 'poor peoples technology', they dream of our lifestyle.
The SOUL cooker is (hand)made in Europe, it is meant to be used in Europe and it has its European price. There are no miracles so far.
The nice thing about solar cooking is that anybody CAN build his or her own solar cooker and it can be really cheap (using materials from garbage), there are many plans available.
If you buy it or homebuild it - what matters is to be part of the solar revolution !
Michael Götz, designer of the SOUL cooker
By the way: Solar cooking adapts perfectly to our hectic lifestyle: there is no other cooking method where you invest so few time. You just put you meal in the cooker and go to work, when you come back, your meal is waiting for you...
I spend much of my time far away from the power grid; NO facilities at my bush cabin. Who can tell me the BEST way to make a solar cooker out of junk?
Soclar Cookers International and other groups promote lower-cost solar cookers and water pasteurizers made locally of lower-tech materials.
this is bull... tree hugging? wtf is that i believe in buying organic fruits and veggitables and i also believe in only drinking brest milk but...thats so gay.
Amethyst, I'm on your wavelength - ordered a book on building both a solar oven and a solar hot plate to help keep my kitchen cool this summer, and to broaden my meal options when the warm Gulf churns us some more hurricanes this year. It's called Cooking With The Sun, cost less than $10, and features plans for the two more permanent models mentioned above, a cardboard quick-and-cheap oven (that I'm going to try first), and a bunch of recipes. I found plans available online, but was particularly interested in recipes, so I can learn how to adapt my cooking to the devices.
I live in Northern California and found a brand new Sun Oven at the Goodwill Store recently. I've used it frequently in the last month. On an unusually hot day, mine reached a temp of 300 degrees fahrenheit. More commonly it gets up to about 250 or 275 - but this is the end of April. I'm guessing I can cook at temps of 350 during the summer. Mostly I've baked in it but look forward to moving on to cooking pastas and beans.
I think the Solar Ovens are awesome! I want to try one. Can you imagine the savings?!