Solar-powered cooker nabs climate prize (The "Kyoto Box")

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 4/9/09 | Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

OSLO (Reuters) – A $6 cardboard box that uses solar power to cook food, sterilize water and could help 3 billion poor people cut greenhouse gases, has won a $75,000 prize for ideas to fight global warming.

The "Kyoto Box," named after the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol that seeks to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, is aimed at billions of people who use firewood to cook.

Costing 5 euros ($6.60) to make, it can also make it easier to boil polluted water.

"We're saving lives and saving trees," the Kyoto Box's developer Jon Boehmer, a Norwegian based in Kenya, said in a statement.

[Always Right]

wow, how many carbon credits do you get for buying 1,000,000 of those boxes? I kind of doubt people actually use the box, they will probably be a joke, but i am sure millions are sold as a means of getting carbon credits.

[az_gila]

From the article....

The other four finalists were a garlic-based feed additive to cut methane emissions from livestock, an indoor cooling system using hollow tiles, a cover for truck wheels to reduce fuel use and a “giant industrial microwave” for creating charcoal.

The garlic feed actually sounds good... pre-flavored beef...:^)

[thecabal]

They’ll probably just use the cardboard box as paper to start their fires.

[John Valentine]

This contraption is nothing more than a cardboard box with some aluminum foil glued to the interior of the box and the upper flaps.

Unless you were “cooking” on a very bright, hot day, you would have better luck “magiking” the food cooked. At best, this is a food warmer, not a cooker.

And notice: it doesn’t say the box will actually boil water, only that it will “help” boil water. “Help” boil water? What the heck does that mean? Maybe it means that the box will warm the water up a bit, thus making it boil a bit faster when the box user finally rips the box into shreds and burns it under his (pre-warmed) water pot.

[steelyourfaith]

Jeepers, why couldn't I have thought of a Kyoto Box?

I do believe I detect the globe is cooling already.

I could be wrong.

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[bigbob]

The poor people will probably rip the boxed up and use them to make a roof

[Oztrich Boy]

This contraption is nothing more than a cardboard box with some aluminum foil glued to the interior of the box and the upper flaps.

This new invention has been touted at Earth Daze since the early 70s

[aft_lizard]

Sounds like something that would be great for hunting or camping trips, or just for general survivability.

[Daffynition]

[TheBattman]

And it takes HOW long to cook a meal? Does it actually warm the food enough to kill bacteria?

[refreshed]

Wow, $75,000 dollars for something that has already been invented. Google solar oven sometime. How to make one was in one of my old survival books. I can’t remember which one. Easiest 75 grand anyone ever made.

[wildbill]

I used solar power to cook once in San Antonio. I cooked an egg on the sidewalk cause it was so hot.

[Uncle Miltie]

Regardless of the GW hysteria, anything that can help folks cook without wood helps avoid deforestation, a devastating issue.

[aruanan]

Regardless of the GW hysteria, anything that can help folks cook without wood helps avoid deforestation, a devastating issue.

Yeah, look at Haiti!

[ansel12]

“Regardless of the GW hysteria, anything that can help folks cook without wood helps avoid deforestation, a devastating issue.”

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I think these people don’t realize how popular solar cookers are, here in America they are very useful for survivalists.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/radabaugh30.html

http://life.gaiam.com/gaiam/p/How-Solar-Cookers-Work-3-Recipes-for-Backyard-or-Backwoods.html
How fast you can cook food in a solar cooker depends on sun exposure and what you’re cooking. While a 3-lb. chicken will cook at 350° F for 90 minutes in a conventional oven, the same chicken will likely take up to 30 minutes longer in a solar cooker.

Maximum temperatures in solar cookers can range from 250° F to as high as 400° F, depending on the type of construction. If your oven’s peak temperature is in the lower end of this range, foods may take longer to cook than indicated in some solar cooker recipes. Cooking begins at around 180° F. When cooking meat in a solar oven, remember to make sure the solar cooker’s temperature gauge reaches 180° F to thoroughly cook the meat.