Agreed on having a presence in cities, we need more solar cooks to bring the more manageable sized cookers to community events (such as I've displayed at Minneapolis' Open Streets fairs) and green gatherings. Which brings me to the middle of my trio about the Villager, with Mark Shook detailing how he worked with the Villager Sun Oven team to highlight tweaks and tinkerings to improve on the already improved cooker: Mark & Susan Shook: Part 2--A Sun Oven Villager, monument to solar cooking, finds a home in Kansas The Shooks and Sun Oven owner immediately hit it off when this community scale cooker arrived twice and an on-going charrette took place as the Shooks put the Villager to use.
Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2024 07:17 AM
From: william fitch
Subject: Solar Thermal Cooking: New Interviews
Yes, I had seen part 3, not part 1. From a product sales and promotion perspective, I would love to see one of these in a heavily looking urban area, right in the middle of the city if you wish. NYC, Phila, Pittsburg, etc.. Sky scrapers around. Having a feeding line of "whatever" for free as a special solar cooking event. To be blunt, 99% of these solar cooking shots, vids look like you are on an Indian Reservation, which casts a certain "light" (Pun intended) on the product. Maybe at a high end car dealership sales event in an Urban area...
This would change the usual narratives, especially if done in the NE, where people don't think of it as even sunny at midnight, if you catch my drift, like big sky country.
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william fitch
Owner
www.WeAreSolar.com
Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2024 06:13 AM
From: Luther Krueger
Subject: Solar Thermal Cooking: New Interviews
The window is roughly 4' square, as are the larger reflectors. The gaps between the 4 large reflectors are filled by 4 trapezoidal reflectors, 3.5' tall by perhaps 2' at the top and not quite a foot at the bottom. They lean out and grab at least another 2'x4' of sunlight each, to bounce into the cookbox. I've spoken to the NMSEA Villager's operators from before the accident that slightly reduced it's capacity to xfer energy to the cookbox, and they said it would approach 500oF/260oC occasionally in the ABQ area. But the Shooks in Kansas get high enough temps that they are testing pizza recipes as they move away from their wood-fired pizza making. Here is the "prequel" to my visit with the Villager shop, with Susan and Mark Shook cooking for a dozen+ guests for a 3 day community festival in their back yard: Mark & Susan Shook: Villager Sun Oven Finds a Home in Kansas
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Luther Krueger
Curator Maximo
Big Blue Sun Museum of Solar Cooking, Minneapolis
Minneapolis MN
[EmailAddress]
Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2024 07:53 PM
From: william fitch
Subject: Solar Thermal Cooking: New Interviews
The villager looks like it is a ~2-3 sun cooker. A guess of course. They claim 500 DegF. , that seems high for 2-3 sun but maybe in a best case scenario. They do have very think insulation around it which of course matters.
Solar cookers are great in direct sun environments, and with its large aperture and non-specific FP, a decent amount to of diffuse can be captured as well. Cost seems to be $10K.
From a ROI perspective, you probably cannot make a case against a free fuel source, potentially like wood, etc..
The main driver here is no pollution and all its associated negative effects.
I imagine solar cookers are still a great conversation starter in public spaces. They certainly were 40 years ago...
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william fitch
Owner
www.WeAreSolar.com
Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2024 06:40 AM
From: Luther Krueger
Subject: Solar Thermal Cooking: New Interviews
It has been a while since I posted here, but many new visits with solar cooks are now online:
Solar Cooking Museum
I call attention to the third of a series on the Villager Sun Oven, detailing their work to improve this community scale hybrid solar cooker, and get it to the areas most in need due to deforestation, unsafe drinking water sources, and an unreliable or non-existent grid:
Trip Critz & Michael Olsson: Villager Sun Oven Hybrid Cooker
My channel is not monetized and my nearly 100 interviews posted will open up this exciting corner of the solar thermal world. If you are stuck in a PV rut, subscribe now, here's your chance to extricate yourself!
Luther Krueger, Big Blue Sun Museum of Solar Cooking - Unincorporated, volunteer-driven
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Luther Krueger, Curator Maximo
Big Blue Sun Museum of Solar Cooking, Minneapolis
Minneapolis MN
[EmailAddress]
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