Students build solar oven that cooks like 'magic'

Call it Mother Nature's slow cooker.

The family-sized solar oven built in an Analy High School program cooks food at up to 300 degrees.

It's perfect for cooking rice and beans, baking bread and cookies, slow-roasting meats and simmering stews, said David Casey, who teaches math and environmental studies at Analy.

"We just call it magic," said Casey, who led a community solar oven-building workshop in Sebastopol last weekend.

The oven is actually a simple plywood box with a tempered glass lid. Inside is a heat-absorbing steel plate and reflecting insulation.

The ovens take an average of three hours to build, with materials that cost about $150, Casey said. But oven-builders at the April 14 workshop paid just $50 because of a grant from PG&E.

The oven project grew out of Casey's EcoAction class, where students learn about alternative energy, composting, waste management and transportation.

Students made a prototype solar oven in class and helped out later at the community workshop. Working in teams, builders assembled 15 ovens during the Analy High School event.

Analy's shop teacher, Joe Maloney, was on hand with advice. Plywood pieces were pre-cut, so builders needed only cordless drills and utility knives.

"We had people there with minimal experience," Casey said. "Some of them had never really built anything. They all had a working oven by the end of the day."

Chili was simmering in a solar cooker during the event.

Since the workshop, students have been experimenting with their ovens. "One of them said he cooked popcorn on it, and it worked," Casey said.

The workshop instructor was Tor Allen, director of The Rahus Institute and Solar Schoolhouse in Sebastopol, a nonprofit organization that promotes solar energy in schools.

Solar ovens save energy and keep kitchens cool in summer. They can also come in handy during an emergency. "You can cook when the power's out," Casey said.

Solar ovens are becoming popular in rural Third World locations where fuel is scarce, he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.