Investigating the feasibility of indirect solar cooker in the UAE
Introduction
Human development is accompanied with the use of energy. In history, using fire for cooking and for warming purpose were one of the biggest advancement in human civilization process. During the last two centuries, the global consumption of energy per capita has increased dramatically. For the UAE residents, this consumption rate is among the highest, i.e. 7,407 (kgoe) per annum in 2003 [1].
Among the various sectors of energy consumption, a huge amount of energy is consumed for cooking every year. Cooking is classified into four major categories based on the required range of temperature: baking (85-90 °C), boiling (100-130 °C), frying (200-250 °C) and roasting (>300 °C) [2]. Conventional Cooking Methods
Although the proportion of energy consumed in cooking has reduced, it is still an important part of energy consumption chart. In developing country, cooking consumes 90% of the domestic energy consumption [3]. In the UAE, the dominant energy sources for cooking are natural gas and electricity. In fact, about 60% of the country’s total natural gas is consumed by generating electricity. The local price of natural…show more content… Indirect solar cooker is defined as off-place cooking technique where heat transfer media conveys the thermal energy to the cooking pot. This technique is suitable for cooking both indoors and outdoors. Generally, there are three available types of indirect solar cooker as shown in Figure 4: flat-plate collector, evacuated tube collector and concentrating type solar cooker [21]. The collectors are separately located from the cooking unit and the two parts are connected together by heat exchanger pipes. In all these types, an effective heat transfer medium is required to transfer thermal energy from the collector to the cooking vessel without a marked heat