Building on my last post- I've been working on getting more then just a gut feeling about how much sunlight is enough to use a solar cooker. It's sunny today, but is it enough? Need evidence.
What I've figured out, and how I figured it:
1. Last summer I solar cooked a lot. In August, I noticed that even if the sun was still shining, I had to bring in my food around 5 pm, it wouldn't get any more cooked because the sun wasn't bright enough (too low in the sky = more energy lost to the atmosphere, sunlight more diffuse when it hits the ground).
2. From checking sun angle data for my location on timeanddate.com, 5 pm in mid August is when the angle of elevation of the sun drops below 30° so that means the sun needs to be above 30° to cook.
3. Currently, the highest sun altitude angle of the day is 28°. The first day of the year where it reaches 30° is Feb 6th. The first day of the year where it reaches and stays above 30° for at least 3 hours is Feb. 17th.
This means that the first day of the year I could most likely have success cooking something in a solar oven will be February 17th (if weather permits). I've got 2 weeks to build it!
#SolarCooking #SolarOven