Students Build a Solar Oven Out of a Cardboard Box

How To Make a Solar Oven

I built this with students at a school in Playas Del Coco, Costa Rica. Then we tested it out on beautiful sunny day in Costa Rica. Check out the video below and see how they did it.

Materials List for Building the Cardboard Box Solar Oven in the Video:

2 Cardboard boxes (one that fits inside the other one)
Aluminum foil
Glue
Piece of glass (big enough to cover the smaller box)
insulation material (clothing, pillow down, insulation, etc)
A cast iron pot or canning jar

The construction is fairly self explanatory. You want a box inside of a box, a lid and cooking chamber with reflective material, something clear to trap the heat and a good cooking container.

Solar Ovens: A Sustainable and Creative Way to Cook

Solar ovens are a great way to cook food using the sun’s energy. The concept of using the sun to heat objects was at least as old as the Greeks. Archimedes is said to have set roman ships on fire with a “burning glass” that may have been an array of mirrors. In addition, cooking food and drying meat with the sun was staple technique for Native Americans. 21st Century “solar ovens” take it to a new level. There are many varieties of solar cookers but the two most common are the box solar oven and the parabolic solar cooker. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to build, and they can be used to cook a variety of foods, including meats, vegetables, and breads.

Benefits of solar ovens

Solar ovens have many benefits, including:

Sustainability: Solar ovens use renewable energy from the sun, which helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Cost-effectiveness: Solar ovens are relatively inexpensive to build, and they do not require any electricity to operate.
Versatility: Solar ovens can be used to cook a variety of foods, including meats, vegetables, and breads.
Health benefits: Solar ovens cook food evenly and slowly, which helps to preserve nutrients.
Safety: Solar ovens are safe to use, and they do not produce any harmful emissions.

2 Common Types Of Solar Ovens

Box Solar Oven
These work by capturing the sun’s powerful radiation and directing it into a reflective cooking chamber. Inside the cooking chamber is a dark-colored pot or container that absorbs the heat and transfers it to the food. The best solar oven can easily replace a slow-cooker in the right climate. Many are built from wood and use mirrors, reflective metals or foils to direct the sun’s energy. While a cardboard solar oven isn’t durable, it’s functional and makes for an excellent youth project.

Parabolic Solar Cookers

Parabolic solar cooker built onto wooden stand — Image Credit: OffGridWeb.com

Parabolic cookers can achieve higher temperatures, but are more difficult to build. Many designs use old satellite dishes covered in reflective material. Parabolic cookers focus a lot more solar radiation on the cook-pot, making

them very powerful. They can boil a gallon water in 15-20 mins on a sunny day. Imagine how much this could help certain areas of the world where water needs to be boiled for consumption. No more collecting firewood!

There are tons of solar cooker ideas and plans on Instructables.com