Article Details

Emphasizing Utilization of Solar Cooking Alternatives: Approach with an illustrative Case Study | Original Article

H. L. Deshpande*, in Journal of Advances in Science and Technology | Science & Technology

ABSTRACT:

The concerns for the climate changes and its impact on life under the Sun have always been linked to adopting and implementing various policies promoting sustainability. Most part of India enjoys Sun for more than 275 days a year, with average solar window period of 6 to 8 hours per day. The abundant solar radiation, clean characteristic of solar energy, high cost of fossil fuels and their adverse effects on environment are the key drivers for the strong focus on the development of solar thermal applications in India. The dependency on crude oil import, limited reducing resources of cooking gas within the country and the appeal by the Honourable Prime Minister of India to ‘Give it up’, are the major reasons to search for the alternative fuel for domestic cooking. In spite of this, solar cooking is not much popular in India. The wind and solar PV has always been the centre of attraction in case of use of renewable energy in India. Promoting “solar cooking” seems to be an issue of little interest. However using solar cooking and popularizing it, will certainly narrow the gap between LPG demand and supply. The author himself is practicing solar cooking for many years. The experiences regarding solar cooking and solar cooked food are shared in this paper as a case study. The paper also discusses impedances in effective implementation of solar cooking and suggests few remedies to overcome it.