Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan from Wonders of Nature Solar Ovens (WONSO) visited Gloucester High School at the end of last year to demonstrate a range of solar powered cooking equipment.
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Students learned the concepts of double glazing, reflection and insulation in box ovens, focussing of light using a parabola, and the greenhouse effect on a casserole at its focal point, noting that light can pass through a vacuum in heat pipes and be trapped. All these scientific principles mean solar energy can be used to cook food.
On a sunny day the ovens get to 180 degrees, the parabola gets the water boiling within minutes and the heat pipe works so effectively it will burn food.
While the discussions centred on the free running costs, the pollution free effect of mirrors and insulation and the fact that you can cook in summer without heating up the kitchen, the last set of students got to enjoy the “proof in the pudding” when the chocolate cake in the box oven was declared cooked, cut and shared.
