Wilson Solar Grill for outdoor cooking See also Solar Cooking Grilling View 5 photosView 5 photos Wilson Solar Cooker Kathleen StoryGreen Living Examiner Subscribe Related Video: Play Theodora Vardouli, Derek Allen Ham, and Eric Uva Advertisement Share On Facebook Share On Twitter Email View all5 photos The grill was developed by Professor David Wilson at MIT after spending time in Nigeria. The people there, particularly women, were cooking with firewood and suffering with respiratory problems from inhaling smoke daily while cooking at the fires. The United Nations Statistics Division estimates 55 percent of sub-Saharan African households depend on firewood and there were 2 million deaths from using firewoodthere in 2004. Other issues from that practice are the rapes of women while seeking firewood and increased deforestation. The MIT students are Derek Allen Ham, Eric Uva, and Theodora Vardouli. The project is part of their Innovation Teams, or iTeams, multi-disciplinary course taught by Fiona Murray at Sloan School in May 2011. The study is to do an entrepreneurial survey of product interest and business model plan for solar grill manufacture and distribution, both in third world countries like Nigeria and the U.S. where it might be an easier sell. Most developing countries may not be able to afford the cookers where their current source of heat, firewood, is free. There should be no more concern about the danger from the lithium battery since it is a sealed system and device would have to be severely dismantled for the chemicals to become an issue. However, a recycling plan would be necessary for protection. The system modified could become a generator for needs such as a well pump, electric lights in a medical clinic or community refrigeration, but this is not part of the current project. Although this first appears on the Internet in 2011, the pictures in the attached slide show are photoshopped and the grill is not available to the consumer for sale as of this writing. The United States hybrid version is expected to offer propane flame in addition to the solar thermal convection cooking method. The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association says in their 2011 survey that 86 percent of U.S. households owned a grill, with 69 percent owning more than one. The flame cooking would be appropriate for those who cook meat and want that seared smoked flavor so much that they do not mind the toxin risk associated with Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). Watch the attached video of the MIT students' Wilson Solar Cooker promotion to see what the African version looks like. The students present in the video their three possible use scenarios for the solar cooker--individual household use, communal use, and commercial use.
Id like to know how the inside of the lens stays clean.. Cleaning water is also as scarce as fire wood.
Just thinking out loud... Perhaps the heat beneath the lens creates a higher air pressure that helps keep the smoke out? Or maybe the 3 open sides and height of the cooker allow the smoke to be blown out by even the slightest wind... If nothing else, leaves from local foliage could probably be used to wipe them somewhat clean...
Two million deaths from cooking smoke---give me a break. We (as an entire nation) cooked/heated with wood for generations and many still do. At the rate they say there would have been no one left to settle the nation.
