Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Recalculations place it at 0.4999.

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Solar Gas cooking

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This may be baked/tried out, but here it is anyway.

Directly using sunlight for cooking is not very convinient and flexible compared to regular gas cooking as we are all used to.

Here is a more flexible and sustainable alternative. Use Solar cells to do electrolysis of water to saperate H2 and O2; Store both gases in saperate (preferably underground) tanks. Mix both gases together right at the burner and burn the mixture. This should give very high temperature flame, normally used for welding. That means even a small flame, size of a candle-flame should be sufficient for cooking/heating needs.

Pros:

* Process of electrolysis should/could continue from sunrise to sunset, creating and storing H2 and O2. H2 acts as a battery/energy storage. This process is very low-tech except solar cells which are one-time investment.

* This process is highly sustainable since it creates absolutely no polution. It also avoids battery related pollution.

* Hydrogens and O2 can be stored for indefinite period of time unlike a battery. This is useful for rainy days.

* It has no moving parts hence high MTBF.

* It has only one hightech part, which is solar cells; Everything else is very lowtech, hence sustainabl. This idea is aimed at mainly rural area and developing countries; May not be suitable for city/urban living.

Cons :

* Special pots are needed so that they don't melt at high temperature.

VJW, Feb 03 2012

Sterling_20engine_2...my_20mobile_20phone [not_morrison_rm, Feb 05 2012]

[link]






       This would be hundreds, possibly thousands, of times as expensive (and resource hungry) as a solar oven.
spidermother, Feb 03 2012
  

       //hundreds// explain
VJW, Feb 03 2012
  

       Take one, add another. Add another. Add another. Add another.
Call this "five".
Add another five.
Add another five.
Add another five.
Add another five.
Call this "twenty-five".
Add another twenty-five.
Add another twenty-five.
Add another twenty-five.
Call this "a hundred".
Then; "Hundreds" would refer to a collection of more than one of the above.
pocmloc, Feb 03 2012
  

       //explain// Shan't.   

       I've made a solar oven for about $5. How much will your system cost?
spidermother, Feb 03 2012
  

       Maybe there's something about Stirling motors that I don't know, because I can't even imagine cars fitted with them driving, much less doing anything else. That's, um, kind of why we don't use them in cars now, right?
Alterother, Feb 04 2012
  

       //I've made a solar oven for about $5. How much will your system cost?//   

       $4.95* so there.   

       *Functionality not guaranteed.
AusCan531, Feb 04 2012
  

       // [link] //   

       Okay, there are some things I didn't know. That's usually the case. Thanks for the link. I was under the impression that Stirling motors were the sort of thing that had to build up steam (NPI) over a long period and then run continuously to maintain useful output.   

       // With an ICE all you can do is rip out the alternator to make a windmill. //   

       You could also replace the tires with water wheels and block the car up in a swift-flowing stream, with the tranny free-wheeling in top gear (preferably overdrive). Many vehicles will produce more than enough power under tow to run the onboard systems; with a river-adjecent campsite and such a configuration, you could run an electric stove, a few droplights, and maybe even a small fridge.
Alterother, Feb 04 2012
  

       // Special pots are needed so that they don't melt at high temperature.//   

       From memory, you can get 5000 degrees out of a hydrogen/oxygen flame, so that's challenge for the Pyrex people..   

       sorry I couldn't resist the Sterling Engine link one more time..the devil made me do it.
not_morrison_rm, Feb 05 2012
  

       Depending on the form of the flame, you can get a _lot_ more than 5k out of hydrogen and oxygen.
Alterother, Feb 05 2012
  

       From Wikipedia, you can get "about 2800ºC" (5072ºF) out of a hydrogen/oxygen flame.   

       The melting point of the pot is not so important. After all, a natural gas / air flame is hotter than the melting point of aluminium.
spidermother, Feb 05 2012
  

       If you add electricity and pressurize the gases, you get a plasma flame, which produces temperatures in the stellar range. Not that this is at all relevant to cooking food.
Alterother, Feb 06 2012
  

       //If you add electricity and pressurize the gases, you get a plasma flame, which produces temperatures in the stellar range.//   

       In what way does this not relevant to cooking food? It could revolutionise the "we deliver your pizza in [ x amount of time]" business as it'd take one nanosecond to cook the pizza, and possibly have enough surplus energy left over for a couple of Baked Alaska's.
not_morrison_rm, Feb 06 2012
  

       //surplus energy left over for a couple of Baked Alaska's// Wasted energy, then, since there's only one.
mouseposture, Feb 06 2012
  

       then you could use the surplus surplus energy to bake Alaska and give them a snow-free winter for a change...
not_morrison_rm, Feb 08 2012
  

       I'm amazed at the amount of heat generated by the small methylated spirit flame in a Trangia. The secret is not to use a big flame, but the trap all the heat generated. Even a candle can boil water if all it's heat is trapped.
simonj, Feb 16 2012
  
      
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