Practical Guige to Free Energy Devices

cookers provide a sustainable technology that relies on the sun’s free energy. We report several advances
to make them better. The need for cheap and effective solar cookers is very great and growing.
The Solar Funnel Cooker has been designed to meet the growing need by being inexpensive and effective.
We determined that the Solar CooKit was nearly as effective when a rabbit-wire stand was used to support
the cooking vessel. By collecting time vs. temperature data, quantitative analysis has been done. This
analysis approach is useful for further development of the cookers.
Several areas of research were explored in 2001. Two finishes were tested for the reflector, a matt finish
and a mirror finish. The benefits of the matt over the mirror finish are:
1) The matt finish is easier to work over because the sun’s glaring reflection is diffused, and
2) the matt finish out-performs the mirror finish in temperature vs. time tests.
The method of closing off the cooker from convection current was tested and compared with an alternative
method – a clear plastic disk. The use of a pot rather that a canning jar was also tested. Though the present
oven-bag/jar method does outperform the disk/pot method, the disk/pot method is easier to use and seems
to be nearly as efficient. Finally, we showed that a wire-mesh stand is a considerable improvement over the
use of a wooden block or other opaque stand for the cooking vessel. We join with our fellow researchers
around the world in pursuing further development of solar cookers, particularly to benefit people in
developing countries.
References:
[1]. Jones, Steven E. et al., BYU. [2]. Wattenberg, Frank. Montana State University. 1996.
[2]. Wattenberg, Frank. Montana State University. 1996.
Recent Advances in Solar Water Pasteurisation
Boiling isn't necessary to kill disease microbes
The main purpose of solar cookers is to change sunlight into heat which is then used to cook foods. We
are all familiar with how successful solar cookers are at cooking and baking a wide variety of foods. In
this article I want to consider using the heat in solar cookers for purposes other than cooking. My main
focus will be solar water pasteurisation, which can complement solar cooking and address critical health
problems in many developing countries.
The majority of diseases in developing countries today are infectious diseases caused by bacteria,
viruses, and other microbes which are shed in human faeces and polluted water which people use for
drinking or washing. When people drink the live microbes, they can multiply, cause disease, and be
shed in faeces into water, continuing the cycle of disease transmission.
World-wide, unsafe water is a major problem. An estimated one billion people do not have access to
safe water. It is estimated that diarrhoeal diseases that result from contaminated water kill about 2
million children and cause about 900 million episodes of illness each year.
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