Abstract:
Increasing environmental awareness and the growing global need for alternative cooking
fuels has spurred solar cooker research and development. The study is focused on
Satrameel rawal sub watershed, the area particularly susceptible to deforestation. To
overcome the problem of deforestation in Satrameel solar cookers are an option to be
used as an alternate cooking fuel. During the study, the potential performance of two
locally manufactured solar cookers (double glass solar cooker and parabolic solar cooker)
was measured by scientifically planned experiments, which include “Water Boiling
Test”, “Evaporation Test”, and “Fuel Wood Test”. The water-boiling test was performed
in three different weather conditions (bright sunny weather, partially cloudy weather and
cloudy weather) and each test was performed in 15 days. Impact of selected
meteorological parameters (humidity, wind speed, ambient temperature and solar
radiations) on the raising water temperature was also measured by recording the readings
from automatic weather station available at the experimental site. Besides that, Biomass
conservation at Satrameel was also measured by finding out the energy consumption
pattern at Satrameel by interviewing the locals and fuel wood test was conducted to find
out the amount of wood required to boil a particular amount of water.
