The power of solar cooking

Children at the Suryakambh event held at a school in Bengaluru.

Children at the Suryakambh event held at a school in Bengaluru. 

Over 300 school students cooked together with 300 portable solar cookers in a first-of-its-kind event at a school in Karnataka.

Prajna, a Class 7 student, who participated in the event called Suryakumbh, says, “We got to know more about solar cookers and how we can harness freely available solar energy with such simple technology. The food took 60 minutes to cook well as there was enough sunlight.”

The event was an effort to impress upon children the importance of alternative energy.

Vivek Kabra, the founder of the solar company that organised this event, says, “We started this initiative called ‘Suryakumbh’ in 2012 to promote the idea of solar energy amongst school children between Classes four and 10. Cooking is the ideal way to connect children with solar energy because it gives them immediate feedback and there is a joy in it.”

There is also a health advantage to solar cooking. The food cooks at temperatures between 120 and 140 degrees celsius, retaining most of the nutrients, unlike LPG where most of the nutrients get lost during cooking.

“This helps children to eat healthily, which is part of their curriculum as well. This event is certainly a good step in the right direction,” says Reshmi G, a teacher in the school.

Environment conscious

Most of the children who come to these events are cooking for the first time. “When their first cooking experience comes from UV Sunlight, the way they look at solar energy will be entirely different and personal. This will build a positive approach towards solar energy among children which will possibly lead to more innovations in the field,” adds Vivek.

Radha Ravichandran, the director of the school says, “The event's objectives resonate with the environment-conscious values that we teach in the school. Our school believes in seeding good thoughts in children, and I hope this initiative is one such seed which will grow bigger in coming times.”

Solar power is touted as the future of the energy sector. To reap the benefits of renewable energy sources, inculcating the awareness and possibilities into the minds of the youth is paramount. To serve this purpose, a Maharashtra-based organisation has been conducting solar cooking events across the country in which students take part by simultaneously cooking food in portable solar cookers.

Over the years, Vivek’s company has trained over 1.30 lakh school children across India and a few other countries, and they also have a Guinness world record for conducting the world's largest solar cooking festival.

A long way to go

There are some disadvantages as Aditya, a Class 10 student, notes. “The cookers provided for the event won’t work efficiently on rainy or cloudy days, so there is enough room for improvement. Nevertheless, these initiatives can motivate others for better innovations,” he says.

Despite being in the market for over 35 years, solar cookers are still not popular as other solar products. “Solar cookers are not user-friendly and convenient for daily usage. It requires bright sunlight from 10 am to 3 pm and also it takes a lot of space inside houses making it difficult to accommodate. They should be kept outside the house which is inconvenient,” points out Mohan Hegde, CEO of a rural energy service company.

However, he says the initiative to introduce children to solar cooking is a good one. "Children won’t get to see solar cookers everyday and they gradually lose interest. But if they are introduced to solar mixers, inverters which they come across in their daily lives, their interest in the field increases," he says.