Where is solar cooking practical?
A major requirement of solar cooking is, of course, plenty of sun. The US space agency, NASA, created a database for those wishing to cook with solar energy. This database helps people determine where there is adequate sunshine. The term ‘insolation’ is a measure of the amount of sunshine and thus is a measure of how much energy is available for solar cooking. As a technical rule of thumb, monthly insolation should exceed 4 KwH/meter squared/day on average, to merit consideration for solar cooking promotion. Another requirement for successful introduction of solar cooking is the pressing need for alternative energy. (Places in the world where solar cooking is done as a matter of preference are few. They occur where there is a well-educated population and rising prices of traditional biomass fuels.) Otherwise, the greatest demand is where biomass fuel shortages are most severe. Considerations of health should one day become another strong incentive. Solar cooking seasons are much longer
