TOTALLY AWESOME: Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven

[Robert Howard-2-3]

The $5 solar-powered device consists of a black inner cardboard box and a silver foil-covered outer box that concentrate enough heat to cook food and boil water.

Bohmer's invention could be a major upgrade for the two billion people that still use CO2-emitting firewood as fuel.

 

• http://www.greenlaunches.com/alternative-energy/cheap-solarpower-kyoto-box-cooker-for-rural-africa.php
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/09/solar.oven.global.warming/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
• http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/kyoto-box-wins-climate-change-challenge

                                                                                                                                                                 

 

This just begs the rhetorical question, “why this was only invented now?”

I read somewhere that one-third of the westward-ho covered-wagon pioneers of the 1800’s died from cholera, but all their wagons were equipped with the brine, salt, onions, and lemons, which when mixed properly cures cholera.

Such stories make me optimistic about the future.

 

Rob Howard, Phoenix, Arizona

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[Paul Paryski]

Alas, this nice idea, solar cardboard box ovens, has been tried in developing countries for 30+ years and has never really made an impact.  Solar cooking takes a long time.  Cardboard cookers are very fragile. The sun doesn't always shine when people want to cook.
Paul (ex-UNDP)


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[James Steiner]

I seem to recall an even more awesome *parabolic* cardboard (and foil)
solar cooker from the 70s.
~~James

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM,  <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Alas, this nice idea, solar cardboard box ovens, has been tried in
> developing countries for 30+ years and has never really made an
> impact.
> Solar cooking takes a long time.
> Cardboard cookers are very fragile. The
> sun doesn't always shine when people want to cook.
> Paul (ex-UNDP)

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[James Steiner]

Yeah... I thought so:

http://solarcooking.org/plans/

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:43 PM, James Steiner <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I seem to recall an even more awesome *parabolic* cardboard (and foil)
> solar cooker from the 70s.
> ~~James
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM,  <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> Alas, this nice idea, solar cardboard box ovens, has been tried in
>> developing countries for 30+ years and has never really made an
>> impact.
>> Solar cooking takes a long time.
>> Cardboard cookers are very fragile. The
>> sun doesn't always shine when people want to cook.
>> Paul (ex-UNDP)

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[Robert Howard-2-3]

Alas, this nice idea, solar cardboard box ovens, has been tried in developing countries for 30+ years and has never really made an impact. 

This is a new design, which hasn’t been tried in developing countries. Are arguing that since it failed in the past that we should not try something new in the future?

 

Solar cooking takes a long time. 

So does chopping wood, or scavenging for it. I believe that this new box design box has an automatic setting that allows the owner to do other things while food is cooking in the box.

 

Cardboard cookers are very fragile.

So it breaks every few months. At $5 each, it’s probably cheaper than scarce wood; and you can burn the box. But when the other option is to get wood, one tends to take care of one’s stuff.

 

The sun doesn't always shine when people want to cook.

So burn wood when the sun is not shining and use the box when it is shining. It’s a hybrid!

 

Paul (ex-UNDP)


**************
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Robert Howard-2-3]

I think the selling point of this new design is not so much novelty but the
ability to manufacture and distribute millions of these things very cheaply.
--Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf
Of James Steiner
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 12:46 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] TOTALLY AWESOME: Inventor turns cardboard boxes
intoeco-friendly oven

Yeah... I thought so:

http://solarcooking.org/plans/

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:43 PM, James Steiner <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I seem to recall an even more awesome *parabolic* cardboard (and foil)
> solar cooker from the 70s.
> ~~James
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM,  <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> Alas, this nice idea, solar cardboard box ovens, has been tried in
>> developing countries for 30+ years and has never really made an
>> impact.
>> Solar cooking takes a long time.
>> Cardboard cookers are very fragile. The
>> sun doesn't always shine when people want to cook.
>> Paul (ex-UNDP)

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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org


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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Tom Johnson]

Yes, a good idea.  And Victor Papanek was pushing it amost 40 yrs. ago.  For a good read, track down:

Papanek, Victor (1971). Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change, New York, Pantheon Books . ISBN 0-394-47036-2.

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 11:46 AM, Robert Howard <[hidden email]> wrote:

The $5 solar-powered device consists of a black inner cardboard box and a silver foil-covered outer box that concentrate enough heat to cook food and boil water.

Bohmer's invention could be a major upgrade for the two billion people that still use CO2-emitting firewood as fuel.

 

• http://www.greenlaunches.com/alternative-energy/cheap-solarpower-kyoto-box-cooker-for-rural-africa.php
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/09/solar.oven.global.warming/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
• http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/kyoto-box-wins-climate-change-challenge

                                                                                                                                                                 

 

This just begs the rhetorical question, “why this was only invented now?”

I read somewhere that one-third of the westward-ho covered-wagon pioneers of the 1800’s died from cholera, but all their wagons were equipped with the brine, salt, onions, and lemons, which when mixed properly cures cholera.

Such stories make me optimistic about the future.

 

Rob Howard, Phoenix, Arizona

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com                 [hidden email]

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
==========================================

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[Paul Paryski]

Again alas in most poor countries $5 buys enough charcoal for a couple or weeks+ of cooking without the labour of cutting wood.  Paul


**************
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Robert Howard-2-3]

If they can get the cost of a few weeks of charcoal down to $5, I bet they can get that box oven down to 50 ¢.

---

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of [hidden email]
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 4:25 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] TOTALLY AWESOME: Inventor turns cardboard boxesintoeco-friendly oven

 

Again alas in most poor countries $5 buys enough charcoal for a couple or weeks+ of cooking without the labour of cutting wood.  Paul


**************
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[James Steiner]

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Robert Howard <[hidden email]> wrote:
> If they can get the cost of a few weeks of charcoal down to $5,
>I bet they can get that box oven down to 50 ¢.

Unless I'm mistaken, it looks like a cardboard box with AL foil on the
flaps, with another foil-lined box inside. So, $5 seems like a lot--
$1... about right.

~~James

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[Robert Howard-2-3]

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/newtonai.html 
Cornell researchers use genetic algorithm to breed equations that are
fittest against real-world physics data.


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