The Institute for Sustainable Energy

Solar Power Fun

Cook with the Sun!

Super-Easy Solar Tea
Wash a one gallon glass jar and its cover. Fill with clean water. Drop 6-8 regular tea bags into
the jar, hanging the strings out the top. Put the cover on the jar. Place the jar in a sunny place.
Let stand for 2-4 hours. Your tea will be warm, but not hot. Chill or serve over ice for solar iced tea!

1. Get a corrugated cardboard pizza box.

With help from an adult, cut the top to make a reflector flap.

Cut 3 sides, 1 inch from the top edges. Do not cut the 4th side. It will be your folded "hinge".

2. Glue aluminum foil (shiny side up) to the inside of the reflector flap. Be sure to wipe off any extra glue to keep the foil shiny.

Tape plastic to the inside of the box lid, over the opening. Make sure that you seal all the plastic edges well with the tape. The window will keep the heat in the box.

3. Glue black construction paper to the insides of the box. Leave your plastic window uncovered.

You can decorate the outside of your box if you would like. Remember--the box should absorb light from the sun. Dark colors absorb light rays and light colors reflect light rays. (I painted the outside of my box with black paint.)

Now set up your box in the sun. You need to have the reflector flap face toward the sun.
(I put my box on a piece of black poster board)

When I set my box up at noontime in July, the sun's position was so high overhead that I needed to tilt my box up for the reflector to work. I made my tilting platform by folding a 12 inch by 48 inch piece of cardboard into a triangle shape. I held it together with a spring binder clip. You can also use clothes pins. Using these instead of tape lets you adjust the triangle if you need to.

Now you are ready to cook!

Materials:
Graham Crackers
Chocolate ( miniatures or broken candy bar pieces)
Large marshmallows

1. Break a long graham cracker in half to make a square.

2. Put a piece of chocolate on top of the cracker.

3. Put a marshmallow on top of the chocolate.

4. Place this stack in your solar pizza box oven. Heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Do not open the box until you are ready to take your food out. Just like the home oven, when you open the door, all the heat goes out.

Be careful if you have to tip your oven with the triangle base. The marshmallows fall off!

If you put a sheet of black construction paper in the oven for a "plate", it will help to keep your oven cleaner.

The temperature of the pizza box oven is not hot enough to cook food! Use this oven only to warm foods which have already been cooked. Use safe food handling practices. See the World Health Golden Rules for Safe Food Preparation http://www.who.int/fsf/gldnrls.htm

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