Stovers:
I don't believe we have ever mentioned
solar cookers on our list - as we started as a biomass-oriented list and have
never varied. My own view of the difficulties of overcoming housewife
resistance has been recently brought into question after having continuing
e-mail conversations with list member S. Narayanaswamy who was the first to give
us authoritative information on the "bachat" cookpot. I have two requests
for members:
1. Is the following book review that I have been asked
to prepare for the journal "Solar Today" (magazine of the American Solar
Energy Society) answering the questions that you would want answered when
thinking about purchasing such a book? Any editorial suggestions to
make? (I have to probably cut some words out to meet the 300 word limit
imposed by the magazine.)
2. Any comments on the solar cooking topic that we
should hear as we pursue the biomass cookstove alternative on this list?
The remainder is my draft book review. (After a
few days to make chages I will also send this to a solar cooking e-mail list for
their views as well.)
Thanks in advance. Ron
An Interesting New Solar Book: “Making the Most of Sunshine – a
Handbook of Solar Energy for the Common Man”. By S. Narayanaswamy
Recently, a new authoritative voice was heard in an internet (woodburning) “stoves” discussion of a
new, efficient (steam heat, double wall) Indian cook pot (the “Bachat”). The interjector, S. Narayanaswamy, also
slowly revealed his authorship of this 200-page book, which is about two-thirds
on solar cookers. The solar
knowledge, passion, and book grew
out of his now-retired career as
one of the top administrators for Kerala - a densely-populated, highly-educated region, poor state in India.
Seeing too little Indian (or any other Government) attention to the
wide-spread introduction of solar energy and especially solar cooking,
Narayanaswamy researched the solar field thoroughly (mainly through the
internet). The resulting book is,
he says. his first and last. It is
obtainable at www.gobookshopping.com with a price
that is dependent on the speed with which you need it.
Narayanaswamy’s message “for the
common man” is compelling. Hundreds
of interesting tidbits are offered on every form of renewables. One can learn, for instance, about three
forms of wave energy, or the Grtzel PV cell, or the single-axis tracking
“Scheffler” concentrator being used for solar cooking (with the “Bachat”), or
green certificates. Little with a
solar label is missing from this book
But the main value for most readers will be in the two-thirds of this
200-page book dealing with solar cooking.
More than a dozen different solar cooker designs are presented – mostly
without critique. As this author
practices what he preaches, most interesting are his sections on the best
day-to-day uses of any solar cooker.
His administrative and policy background makes Naryanaswamy’s final
chapter, “Promotion of Solar Cookers,” compelling reading for anyone introducing
solar hardware anywhere, but especially in developing countries.
The negatives? First, too
many typos – but these are obviously due to the printer, not the author. Second, too few references - but there
are plenty of leads and especially for web sites (ex:
http://solarcooking.org).
This reviewer came away with a new
appreciation of the potential for solar cooking - and now ready on the type of
cooker and cooking to build and try first.
{Review by Ron Larson, Golden CO
ronallarson@qwest.net}
ew months
ago, when we had the first discussions on "stoves" about the
