Eco Factor: Portable solar-powered concept cooker.
Solar-powered cookers are definitely a green solution for all those camping enthusiasts who don’t want to contribute to global warming by burning wood for cooking food. However, present day solar cookers are only good as a secondary choice since they directly use the energy of the sun to cook food, where an overcast day means that you’ll starve.
Industrial designers Xiao-Fang Shen and Nikolai Ruola have tried to solve the problem with a concept Portable Parabolic Cooker that collects solar energy to heat oil in a tank. Once heated, the oil is moved to a well insulated storage area, where it can retain all that solar heat for days. When the need arises the user can control the movement of hot oil in the heater or oven through appropriate valves, which can then be used to cook food even if the sun isn’t shining.
