It has been a 15 year family tradition for Alfredo García Martínez to sell beef tacos at the corner of Gardenia and the naval military school in Oaxaca, Mexico. But these days, his set-up is a bit different from the competition’s: his is the first in the country that cooks using solar energy. The roof mounted solar cooker is a type of cylindro-parabolic solar cooker that can produce temperatures in excess of 212 degrees F.
City officials are interested in the solar taco stand because it poses less of a risk than a conventional cooking stand. Typical cooking stands carry pressurized containers of gas to provide the cooking energy.
The taco stand was designed by Michael Gotz with an estimated cost of $8000. Three Swiss organizations sponsored the project: GloboSol, SolarSpar, and Service Industrial Foundation of the City of Geneva.
[This text was taken from an email from Louise Meyer to Tom Sponheim in February 2010
News and recent developments[]
- February 2010: Tacos with solar energy - Diario Despertar de Oaxaca