With spring in the air, many Americans are ready to breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of warmer weather and lower utility bills.
Solar Ovens: Cook Out Without Heating Up:
Solar ovens can be a part of your summer cookout experience, and they’re environmentally responsible too. When you think of summer you think of fun in the sun, and one great way to harness all that inexhaustible, pollution-free power is with a solar oven, especially a solar oven that you’ve built yourself.
" Cook with Solar Ovens " For less than the cost of a movie ticket and for about the amount of time it takes to watch a summer rerun, you can put together a solar oven and be ready to keep the heat out of the kitchen and where it belongs—in your back yard.
Cooking with a solar oven also is an energy-efficient way to help fight global warming and take advantage of nature’s free, inexhaustible energy supply. As the world’s population increases and nonrenewable sources of energy vanish or seriously damage the ozone layer, the need to adopt clean, renewable sources of power grows ever more critical. Solar energy is such a source.
Solar ovens can be used to prepare anything that can be made in a conventional oven or stove—from corn on the cob to spare ribs to kabobs—without heating up the planet or the kitchen and placing additional demands on your cooling system. Nearly 75 percent of US households prepare at least one hot meal per day; one-third prepare two or more. You can make some of those meals in a solar oven. Are you ready to let the sun shine in?
Here are some ways to acquire and enjoy your own solar oven:
Build a solar oven using ordinary materials, boxes, aluminum foil, black paint, and white paste. Kids home for the summer can turn a few inexpensive, everyday items into a solar oven they can be proud of, with minimal to no adult supervision. Free plans and detailed instructions (available at: solar cooking) for a broad variety of solar oven designs are available on the Internet.
All thumbs or short on time? Get a ready-made solar oven from a nonprofit organization, such as the Solar Oven Society.
Take your solar oven on your next camping or hiking trip and cook without the need for fire or propane and eliminate the threat posed by traditional fires.
Cook with a Solar--Why depend on fossil fuels when you can harness the clean, free energy of the sun and help preserve the integrity of the planet. Bon appetit!
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