Comparison between solar cooker and biomass cooker

by Asma Abdalla
(Glasgow, United Kingdom)

Compare energy efficiency, cost between solar cooker and biomass cooker.



___________________________________________


I don't have a lot of time to go into detailed explanations of comparisons between solar and biomass cookers, but I can say that a solar cooker is much more cost effective because it does not use any fuel other than the energy from the sun.
And the efficiency of solar cookers is comparable to that of biomass burning cookers, and in fact in many cases, solar cookers can exceed the efficiency of a biomass cooker.

I will direct you towards some good information, that come from other sources besides me, about solar cooker efficiency and cost.

First of all you might start with studies done by the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air
This study shows efficiency and performance standards measured by various protocol and methods.

http://www.pciaonline.org/testing


Next, Cooking stove tests for biomass and solar cookers done by the

Aprovecho Research Center

Shell Foundation

United States Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.pciaonline.org/files/Test-Results-Cookstove-Performance.pdf


Here is a site that has some very detailed information on efficiency of parabolas for solar cooking. This may be helpful as well.
http://geometryexpressions.com/downloads/Investigating%20Parabolic%20Solar%20Cookers.pdf


Hope these will be helpful, and maybe we can get some input from other solar cooking experts and aficionados from around the world.

Nathan
Admin.

---