(v) Which areas in India use only solar energy to cook food? Name the places and tell what & how do they use it?
Answers
Answer:
Solar Cooking in Ladakh Ladakh, situated in the extreme north of India, is a cold desert with very low temperatures, negligible rainfall and scanty vegetation. The region may not be fit for farming, but it is ideal for harnessing solar energy since it receives more than 300 sunny days in a year.
Answer:
My first interaction with solar cookers happened many years ago when a friend of mine displayed a model at our school’s science fair, which was pretty much novel for us then. When I reminisce about that barely working model, I wonder how this technology has progressed in India. India is a country where more than 60% of population earns its living from agriculture. These subsistence farmers and their families rely heavily on the sun for plant growth, to dry husk and manure for fuel, and to drying clothes. Fortunately, they reside in a tropical country like India that receives 5-7 kWh per squared-meter of solar energy for around 300-330 days in a year.
In fact, innovators have tried to make the most use out of solar energy by using it to cook food directly with the help of solar cookers. A major advantage of this move is that the use of polluting fuels such as manure, coal and firewood that emit toxic fumes while burning is reduced. Solar cookers do not pollute and cause respiratory diseases like the ‘traditional chulhas’ (check our story on low smoke chulhas) in most Indian villages. Further, LPG and kerosene fuel are not easily available to many rural communities in remote areas.
With the advent of solar cookers, women in rural areas need not spend most of their day collecting firewood or creating manure cakes. Another economic benefit is that solar cooking has a wide customer base in India, since it targets the rural population. In fact, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) also enthusiastically supports the cause of solar cookers and endorses the manufacture and distribution of energy-efficient solar cookers.
Mainly, there are three types of solar cooker technology that exist in the Indian market. Among them, the box type is the most common and commands most of the revenue in the solar cooker market.