CharSOL Grill Blog

Hello all,

I’ve recently found an incredibly acute articulation of the face our society is shaping. Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP notes…

“We’re all, by nature, self-centred. Our research shows that people are more motivated by ‘my world’ than ‘the world’…We’re entering a new era: resource-constrained and inflationary. The ‘super-consumption’ of the 1990s and 2000s will be replaced by the desire for more efficient and longer-lasting products. Quality will surpass quantity. This will be the spur for a wave of technical invention and product innovation providing consumers with all the satisfaction they’ve come to expect, but with a fraction of the drain on the earth’s resources. And, crucially, at lower running costs to the user. You could call it ‘The self-preservation society’.”

Read the full article!

This is fascinating! Reliable, innovative products that utilize renewable energy and have a focus on social, environmental and economic responsibility, such as the CharSOL Grill. If you’d like to learn more or have an interest in getting involved, post a comment or visit our website.

There’s no shame or fear in being an active participant in “the self-preservation society”. It is the time in which we live, but let us not forget that in the pursuit of survival, what makes us human…is our sacrifice.

In-joy!

This is a must see video for anyone interested in how Solar Cooking goes beyond saving money, beyond convenience and environmental conscience…it saves lives.

The CharSOL Grill is going to be a part of actively changing lives in a measurable way for the good. To find out more about it, visit CharSOLGrill.com.

Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life. – Dalai Lama

Let us know what you think by taking our SURVEY located at the top of the blog or participate in our POLL.

To learn more about Solar Cookers International, visit SolarCookers.org

Today’s blog comes courtesy of Solar Cookers World Network and SolarCookers.org

Build a solar cooker!

There is a wide variety of solar cooker designs, many of them very simple to build from inexpensive, easy-to-obtain materials. Some can be built in as little as an hour for less than US$5. Start by choosing a cooker design type based on your requirements. The table below lists strengths and weaknesses of the most common types, and shows some popular cookers of each type. Below each table are all cooker plans of that cooker type. You can also buy a solar cooker from a variety of companies.

Panel-style cookers

	Advantages	Disadvantages
General characteristics	Easy and cheap to make Can be collapsed for storage or transport	Lower temperatures. Can’t fry foods. Cooks only 1-2 pots of food.
Fun-Panel	Built in about an hour from one large cardboard box or from two medium-size sheets of cardboard Doesn’t require a large flat sheet of cardboard like the CooKit does Easy to adjust for different sun angles Great cooking power Very good for winter cooking in temperate regions	Not waterproof Might be difficult to use in equatorial climates where sun rises to straight overhead.
Windshield Shade	Fastest cooker to make. Waterproof	Only feasible where windshield shades are sold
Cookit	Folds to the size of a large notebook for storage or transport	Not waterproof Cooks best when the sun is high in the sky.
Sunny Cooker	Uses less cardboard than other panel cookers	Not waterproof Might be more difficult to use at mid-day in equatorial climates where sun rises to straight overhead.

See all Panel cooker plans.

Box-style cookers

	Advantages	Disadvantages
General characteristics	Can cook in multiple pots simultaneously Can be built from many different materials Can be built any size to cook large quantities of food Don’t have to be turned to follow the sun while cooking	Construction time longer than panel. Can’t fry foods.
The “Minimum”	Simple to build from two cardboard boxes	Not waterproof
Easy Lid	Same as “Minimum” Cooker but there is no need to construct a lid since the top of larger box becomes the lid	Not waterproof
Heaven’s Flame	Extra power due to multiple reflectors Can heat multiple pots simultaneously	Must be turned a bit more often to follow the sun Bottom of oven not level as cooker tilts toward sun Not waterproof

See all Box cooker plans.

Parabolic cookers

	Advantages	Disadvantages
General characteristics	Cook as fast as a conventional electric burner. Can fry foods.	More expensive than other models Tricky to make without imported materials. Requires periodic realignment to the sun. Can’t bake bread Can damage eyes.
DATS	Can be made out of cardboard Doesn’t require the pot to be in a heat resistant plastic bag	Must be realigned to the sun every 45 minutes