date-created: '2009-02-05'
date-updated: '2026-09-16'
manifest-author:
    name: Appropedia
    email: admin@appropedia.org
title: 'How to make a "Sunbrella" solar cooker'
description: "The energy used for conventional cooking comes from a variety of sources: wood, gas, oil, coal, electricity, etc. Though solar cooking seems to be its own category, it is the basis for all the rest. The Sun's energy powered the growth of the tree; plants and animals buried on the ocean floor a hundred million years ago anaerobically decomposed to produce crude oil[1]... The difference between using conventional techniques, such as wood, oil, and gas, and using pure solar energy is the number of transfers the energy has to undergo (as well as the byproduct of usage, of course). To use gas, for instance, the Sun shines, the tree grows, the animal eats, the fungus feasts, the gas burns, and then the pot heats."
keywords:
    - 'parabolic solar cookers'
    - 'versatile design'
    - umbrella
    - 'solar cooking'
project-link: 'https://www.appropedia.org/How_to_make_a_"Sunbrella"_solar_cooker'
contact:
    name: 'User:Doodle'
    social:
        platform: Appropedia
        user-handle: 'User:Doodle'
version: 217
made: false
image: 'https://www.appropedia.org/w/images/thumb/1/1b/Sun_cook.jpg/1280px-Sun_cook.jpg'
variant-of:
    title: 'Solar cooker'
    web: 'https://www.appropedia.org/Solar_cooker'
license:
    documentation: CC-BY-SA-3.0
licensor:
    name: 'User:Doodle'
    affliation: 'Cal Poly Humboldt'
    contact: 'https://www.appropedia.org/User:Doodle'
documentation-home: 'https://www.appropedia.org/How_to_make_a_"Sunbrella"_solar_cooker'
documentation-language: en