EventsEdit

• May 17-18, 2013: (Faro) The Institute of Engineering at the University of the Algarve Campus da Penha is sponsoring a two day conference about solar cooking. Different solar cooking technologies will be discussed, as well as possible commercial applications each day. There will also be solar cooking demonstrations by Professor Celestino Ruivo. Here is a link to the registration form. For more information contact cruivo@ualg.pt.

See Calendar of events.

News and Recent DevelopmentsEdit

• February 2013: Solar cooking and processing workshops in India - Celestino Ruivo, of the Instituto Superior de Engenharia da Universidade do Algarve in Portugal, traveled to India at the end of January to attend the 1st International Solar Food Processing Network workshop at the Muni Seva Ashram in Goraj, Vadodara, Gujarat, India. He brought with him 50 kg. of solar cooking bagage: 8 black pots, 16 glasses of windows cloth washing machines, corrugated sheet metal, reflective foil and tools to make low cost and effective portable funnel cookers. Creatively, Celestino used his suitcase as the mold to construct examples of his solar funnel cooker in concrete. He also gave a lecture about solar cooking and how to construct a funnel cooker at the CT institute in Punjab for more than 300 students, as well teaching solar cooking for ladies in domestic context at Jalandhar. The eight funnel cookers were donated to friends in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Muni Seva Ashram, Vadodara, Jalandhar and New Delhi.

• January 2013: The original funnel solar panel cooker was inspired by the CooKit. This efficient solar panel cooker was developed in 2007 using sheets of polypropylene. Recycled windows of clothes washing machines were used to create the greenhouse effect around the pot. A variation of the cooker made of concrete and common mirrors has been tested since 2009. Some of the main advantages of this solar cooker are: low cost reproduction in every part of the world using local available common materials, intuitive and practical use, water rain resistant and wind resistant and no risk for fire ignition. The useful heating capacity of this model was estimated around a value of 100 W. Read more at Experiences of solar cooking in Portugal during the last six years

• November 2009: Forno solar ganha mercado e se volta para exportações - Lusa (English version)

• August 2008: Since becoming “well contaminated with the virus of solar cooking” at the 2006 International Solar Cookers Conference in Spain, professor Celestino Rodrigues Ruivo has become an important advocate for solar cooking in Portugal and beyond. Ruivo credits Pedro Serrano, of Chile’s Red Iberoamericana de Cocinas Solares (RECOSOL), and others for helping him overcome his initial skepticism. Ruivo learned to solar cook using a “CooKit” given to him by Solar Cookers International (SCI). He has since made and used several types of solar cookers, mostly “low cost apparatus using recycled materials.” Over ninety percent of his meals are now cooked with solar energy. Ruivo started promoting solar cookers locally — at his home, in local schools and restaurants, etc. — and worked with local media. Then he broadened his scope to other regions of Portugal, and eventually to Brazil and Spain. He’s even becoming known in Australia, where an interview with Ruivo (taped during a solar cooker workshop he conducted for about 70 Scouts) was broadcast on Australia’s SBS television program “Dateline.” Ruivo conducts numerous promotional activities. He has held several solar cooker conferences at the University of Algarve, with sessions on the evolution of solar cookers in Portugal, solar cooker distribution strategies, and solar cooker construction. He has also assisted with solar picnics and participated in solar cooking contests. According to Serrano, Ruivo has “developed an intensive process to diffuse the technology, [organizing] workshops, symposiums, courses, etc. — more than 20 activities in only one year.” Though Ruivo admits to being somewhat tired, he says he will continue his efforts to “contaminate others with this solar cooking virus.”

• April 21-25, 2008: One class of eigth grade students from D. Paio Peres Correia Basic School, Tavira, Portugal will fly to Porto Novo, Cabo Verde, to facilitate solar cooking construction and use workshops. The workshops will be realized in Porto Novo's Technical School and in Social Centers of porto Novo, as part of a cooperation program, promoted by Centro Ciência Viva de Tavira, and will be part of the trainning of local students, teachers and social workers, to become solar cooking promoters.[Source: Filipe Santos]

• June 18, 2007: O Concurso “Sabor Solar”, decorreu dia 18 de Junho com muito sol e boa disposição no Chalé Dr. João Lúcio – Ecoteca de Olhão. Houve 26 participantes que nos surpreenderam pela originalidade dos fornos apresentados e criatividade na confecção das diversas receitas. O Júri atribuiu o primeiro prémio na Categoria A – até 15 anos – a Ana Betriz Ruivo, David Silva e Inês Soveral, que nos apresentaram um delicioso Bacalhau com Batatas à murro, confeccionado numa panela cheia de areia! O grupo da Escola E.B. 2,3 de Quarteira, recebeu uma menção honrosa. Na Categoria B – maiores de 15 anos – o Júri teve mais dificuldade em decidir, pois a diversidades de receitas era grande… O primeiro prémio foi atribuído a Sandro Bruno Giovagnoli, com o prato Couscous à Marinheiro. Foi ainda atribuída uma menção honrosa a Silvério Ventura. Esta foi uma iniciativa da Ecoteca de Olhão, que pretende estimular a utilização de fornos solares e proporcionar a partilha de saberes num ambiente de convívio, contribuindo desta forma para despertar o interesse da população pela Energia Solar. [Source: Celestino Ruivo]

• March 16-17, 2007: Irá realizar-se um "Piquenique Solar" na Ecoteca de Olhão, Portugal

• February 3, 2007: O Encontro de Cozinhas Solares (III ECOSOL) irá realizar-se na Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Universidade do Algarve ­Campus da Penha.

• March 2006: Armando Herculano reports that he leads solar cooking demonstrations and workshops for schools, nongovernmental organizations, and local agencies. He recently designed a panel-type solar cooker called Girassol (“sun flower”). Its pentagonal shape eliminates the need to reorient the cooker to track the sun’s movement. With teacher friend António Serafim, Armando Herculano introduced the solar cooker to classes at National University of East Timor. This event was covered in local newspapers (Semanário 57 58 59; Timor Post) as well as on the 'TIMOR CONTACTO' portuguese international television (RTPi) program . Contact: Armando Herculano

Climate, Culture, and Special ConsiderationsEdit

• Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables

ResourcesEdit

ReportsEdit

• March 2011: Analysis of the Drying Kinetics of S. Bartolomeu Pears for Different Drying Systems - Electronic Journal of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Articles in the mediaEdit

• November 2009: Forno solar ganha mercado e se volta para exportações - Lusa (English version)

External linksEdit

• A Aldeia de Energia Solar

• December 2006: Photos from the ECOSOL II in Portugal now online

• Perguntas freqüentes sobre cozimento solar

Portugal contactsEdit

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)Edit

Government agenciesEdit

Eductional institutionsEdit

IndividualsEdit

Manufacturers and vendorsEdit

See alsoEdit