By John Chappell •
February 16, 2009
San Diego Food Not Lawns, a group promoting sustainable growth, food justice and self-sufficiency in Southern California recently hosted a potluck lunch on a recent sunny San Diego weekend. This may not seem terribly noteworthy except for the fact that all the potluck dishes were cooked using nothing but the power of solar energy.
Ingredients were added, recipes were followed and by lunchtime a variety of dishes were available to taste and share. Lasagna, chicken casserole, and chocolate chip cookies were all made in solar cooking devices of all types just for this potluck event. Solar cooking devices can run the gamut from a pot from your kitchen with added aluminum foil wrapped pieces of cardboard, to professional units with built-in thermometers to monitor internal cooking temperature.
The common theme of all solar cookers is that they are passive cooking devices that require no fossil fuels or wood to turn raw food into a cooked meal. During the solar cooking exhibition, blueprints on do-it-yourself solar cookers and solar cooking recipes were exchanged and passionately discussed. The solar cooker pictured above concentrates the rays of the sun and focuses it on the pot, which can raise the internal temperature to over 300 degrees.
By Derek Markham •
October 21, 2008
Teach your kids about alternative energy and the basic principles of physical science with a super educational kit from Thames and Kosmos.
Integrating technology, physical science and the adventures of living on a remote island and building a house, Power House teaches children about harnessing the power of the sun, the wind, electrochemical and plant energy. Power House was developed by physicist Uwe Wandrey, and includes a 96 page manual, 70 different experiments, and 20 projects to build.
Note: My inspiration for posting this is attributable to the many radically creative and excellent ideas in Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community by H.C. Flores.
The clock is ticking. On Wednesday, I am to shoot a segment for the Sust Enable film project in which I construct a draft box (alternative to a refrigerator), solar cooker (alternative to a stove/oven), and hot water solar shower, in order to illustrate how easy and cheap it is to build such items for the average person. Once applied, these technologies can divert significant amounts of energy that would normally come from the plugs in your home, to free energy provided by the sun and wind. (Of course, the issue of winter and weather conditions arises, but I believe that every little applied creative technology helps in the approach toward sustainable living.)
But there is one obstacle looming… can I overcome it in the hours before the shoot begins?
How do I sustainably acquire the necessary materials?
If I am claiming to live a 100% sustainable lifestyle, then certainly I cannot acquire anything new–all supplies must be redeemed from the waste stream of others. Or must they? I began to realize that the likelihood of me garbage-picking a 55-gallon drum, spigots, fixtures, tools, aluminum foil and black hose was rather slim in the time frame given, and with the transportation resources I have (i.e., a bike).
Hence, I must consider the tradeoff of my actions as thoroughly as I can. What are the consequences of the manufacturing of a metal spigot, bought new from Home Depot? What’s the tradeoff if I were to continue to use conventional hot water heaters for all of my showers for the next few years of my life?
