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Welcome to the Peak Oil Resources storefront. At the moment, we have one outstanding product, the Global Sun Oven (see & purchase below). As we build our supplier relationships, we will offer a myriad of products that cater to the Peak Oil aware and those wishing to maintain a more knowledgeable and independent lifestyle. Send an email to updates@peakoilresources.com to join our mailing list so that you can stay current with our offerings.
Cook with the "Ultimate Solar Appliance"
Cook your food. Save the tress. Save the environment. Peace of mind at a good price... A Peak Oil must. These ovens are built to last an average of 20 years. With proper care, they will last a lifetime. While the price may seem high, consider that many camping stoves cost close to this amount and they require fuel of some kind. At a cost of 3 cents a day, being prepared has never been so affordable. Your Purchase of the Global Sun Oven
Includes: * Built in thermometer * Attached one piece collapsible reflectors * Spill-proof levelator * Self-contained leveling leg * Black Round Covered Enamelware cooking pot
The Global Sun Oven Impact - Features and Benefits The Ultimate Solar Appliance The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ has been
devised to meet up to 70% of the needs of a family of 6 to 8 people in a
developing country, entirely with the power of the sun. Even though it
is called an oven, food can be boiled, steamed, roasted or baked at
cooking temperatures of 360° F / 182° C, making it ideal for cooking
the majority of foods in the developing world. This ruggedly built solar
appliance weighs only 21 pounds / 9.5 kg and will last more than 20
years. Over 2 billion people cook with wood, charcoal or dung as their primary cooking fuel and the social, economic and environmental impacts are significant. The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ has been carefully engineered to provide an alternative to using wood and dung. These fuels are becoming increasingly scarce and costly. The use of these appliances can be very beneficial to women all over the world by reducing the cost of fuel and/or lightening the everyday burdens of life. GLOBAL SUN OVENSŽ are not the same as other solar cooking devices. They have a number of unique qualities and features that are not in other solar cooking devices. They are often compared with box cookers that are made out of aluminum foil and cardboard or homemade boxes of various sizes and shapes. While the energy conversion principles are the same, the materials utilized in manufacturing a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ have been carefully researched to include the most efficient materials available. In order to capture the maximum amount of energy, achieve the highest possible temperature, and retain the greatest amount of heat possible, while minimizing the weight, the materials utilized have been selected based on efficiency and quality. Other than cleaning, no other ongoing maintenance is required. NGO's that have worked with SUN OVENŽ have found that they have had an easier time getting people to use them because the ovens work so well and maintain cooking temperatures that are significantly higher than other types of solar devices.
Due to their long life, their ability to be used when there is less sun and the fact that food can be cooked faster, the GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ are less expensive on a cost per meal basis than any other solar cooking device. The high quality materials that are required to make a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ make its initial cost higher but its overall cost lower than any other solar cooking device. In areas where people can not afford to purchase an oven outright micro-finance programs are utilized to allow ovens to be paid in small installments using money that would have otherwise been spent purchasing charcoal. The price of GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ can be reduced by assembling them in the countries in which they will be used. SUN OVENS International has developed a local assembly plant system, enabling GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ to be made in the area they will be used, dramatically reducing the cost of the ovens and shipping. This complete assembly system includes the training, tools, instructional materials and follow-up support necessary. The Cultural Challenge
Social, Economic and Environmental Impact Fuel scarcity is one of the
most serious problems plaguing the developing world. Unless this pattern
can be reversed, the quality of life of the poor will continue to
decline. The widespread introduction of GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ in countries
that are blessed with an abundance of sunshine offers an alternative
that can improve the lives of millions of people. Social As forests disappear the burden of finding cooking fuel falls upon poor women and girls in both urban and rural settings. In rural areas women must spend several hours each day gathering wood and standing over a fire stirring food. In urban areas up to 55% of household income is spent to purchase cooking fuels. Urban women and children are most often required to earn additional income to purchase cooking fuel. The introduction of GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ would allow time currently spent on these kinds of activities to be more productively utilized. In addition, the health effects of domestic use of biomass fuels (wood, dung, agricultural residues) and coal are suffered largely by women. Using GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ can reduce the incidence of respiratory and ocular diseases associated with exposure to smoke. Solar cooked foods contain greater nutritional value than food cooked with biomass fuels. Economic Impact The world has entered an era of increasingly higher energy costs. For most of history the impact of energy needs was cushioned by large reserves of "free" wood and other biomass fuels. But the distinction between "free" traditional fuels and modern more costly fuels is lessening as environmental degradation reduces supplies and increases costs. In many urban areas, woodfuel may be as expensive as kerosene or gas, and in rural areas the costs of free collection in terms of women's time, energy and well being are excessive. In addition, many of women's key income-generating activities are fuel-intensive and difficulties in obtaining adequate supplies of fuel threaten this income. Environmental Impact
Deforestation and the resulting soil erosion are a growing environmental threat and have had a severe impact on plants, animals, soil and water resources. If deforestation is not reversed, there is little hope that negative environmental and economic trends that have plagued many developing countries can be reversed. Land degradation often leads to food insecurity and famine. Loss of water resources through runoff and the decrease in ground water levels are the other development problems attributable to environmental degradation, particularly deforestation. On the whole, every aspect of development in the developing world is tightly bound with the environment. Using the sun to provide an alternative fuel source to cooking with wood or charcoal must occur immediately. The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ has been designed to be the alternative. It is the most logical option that exists in the world today. FAQs What can I cook in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ? Anything you can cook in a conventional electric or gas oven can be cooked in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ. You can bake, boil and steam using any of your favorite recipes. What is the cooking temperature range? The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ will reach temperatures of 360 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The oven will generally reach its maximum temperature as it is being preheated. The temperature will drop when food is placed in the chamber. Will food prepared in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ taste the same as food prepared in my conventional oven? The food tastes much better! Solar cooking allows many of the natural flavors of food, which get baked out in conventional ovens, to remain. The slow, even rise in temperatures in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ gives the complex carbohydrates time to break down into simple sugars allowing subtle natural flavors to emerge. Sun baked foods stay moist, the natural internal juices do not bake out, resulting in a superior, moist taste and much less shrinkage. How long does it take? Cooking times are close to the same as those in a conventional oven. Because the sun is often trying to run away and hide behind clouds, cooking times can vary. At times it may take a little longer. The factors that affect the cooking time are: the quality of the sunlight at the time you are cooking, the types and quantities of the food being cooked, and how often the oven is being refocused. Does a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ require special pots and pans? No, but dark, thin-walled pots with lids work best. Dark pots change the light from the sun into heat energy. Lids are important because they hold steam in the pot. If a lid is not used the steam will dissipate much of the heat. Shiny aluminum pots and pans cause light to be reflected out thereby reducing the oven's temperature. Glass casserole dishes with lids also work well. For baking cakes, breads, cookies, and pies, dark cookie sheets and baking tins work best. Does food need to be stirred? No. Stirring to prevent scorching is not required when cooking in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ due to the fact that there are no hot spots. The temperature of the food rises evenly. It is almost impossible to burn food in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ. How difficult is it to focus a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ? Focusing a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ is very easy. All that is required is to watch the shadows created by the oven. When the shadows are even on all sides, the cooker is directly focused. The built-in leveling leg on the back of the oven allows for easy tracking. How often must a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ be refocused? The need to refocus depends a great deal on what you are cooking, the time of day, and the temperature you wish to maintain. A good rule of thumb is to plan to readjust every 30 minutes to maintain maximum heat. At noon the sun is high in the sky and moves quickly past the maximum focus point, creating the need to refocus more often. Later in the day you will not need to refocus as often. The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ is equipped with a built in Levelator, which keeps food level and avoids spills while being refocused. Many meals can be cooked without refocusing. GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ users often will put their ovens outside, focused for the mid-day sun, with their dinner in it when they leave for work in the morning. As the sun moves overhead, the temperature in the Global Sun Ovenâ chamber slowly rises to a cooking level. As the sun passes, the food is kept warm and when they return from work they have a warm, sun-cooked dinner. (Keep in mind food will not burn in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ and that the chamber is extremely well insulated, allowing food to stay warm for hours.) With the GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ getting so hot, what is the risk of getting burned when using it? The only parts that get hot are the oven chamber, the cooking pan, and the glass door. Proper care must be taken to use hot pads when opening the door and removing food. The entire exterior of the oven, including the reflectors, remains safe to touch. How long will a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ last? The estimated life of a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽis 20 + years. With proper care it should last a lifetime. Do I need special recipes to cook in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ? The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ reaches temperatures comparable to that of conventional ovens, therefore no special recipes are required. A good rule of thumb is to add 10 to 15 minutes of cooking time for each time the oven door is opened. What are the dimensions of the GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ? The size of the GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ is 19'' x 19'' with an average depth of 11''. The total weight is only 21 pounds. Can I use a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ in the winter? Yes. The most important factor in using a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽis the brightness of the day, NOT the outside air temperature. Often, a 40-degree, clear, low-humidity day will allow food to cook faster than a 100-degree day with high humidity. The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽhas been used very successfully at the base camp of a Mt. Everest expedition where the temperatures are often well below zero. There are, however, more cooking hours available in the summer than in the winter. In the early summer, it is not unusual to cook from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, whereas during the early winter, effective cooking is limited to 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. How does it work? The black surfaces on the inside of the oven captures and transforms the sun's energy into a form that cannot escape the oven chamber. When a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ is focused in the sun, the interior of the oven is heated by the sun's energy. Direct and reflected sunlight enters the oven chamber through the glass door. It then turns to heat energy when it is absorbed by the black inner-shell and Levelator. This heat input causes the temperature inside the oven to rise until the heat loss of the oven is equal to the solar heat gain. The light energy absorbed by dark pots and the oven's dark interior is converted into longer wavelength heat energy. Most of this longer-wavelength radiant energy can not pass back out through the glass, ensuring more efficient cooking. Are GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ used in countries outside of the United States? Yes. Currently they are being used in 126 countries around the world. In many of these countries, they purchase unassembled GLOBAL SUN OVENSŽ and complete the final assembly on location. This reduces the overall cost of the ovens and shipping while creating jobs locally. The demands of massive population growth, and inefficient conversion of wood to charcoal, have outstripped the third world's forests ability to regenerate. The ecological effect of wood fuel is burdensome and has a far-reaching negative global impact. These global trends will lead to environmental destabilization leading to deforestation and global warming. Science strongly supports the fact that deforestation for agricultural and fuel use is changing weather patterns, causing soil erosion, and depleting plant and animal life. SUN OVENSŽ offer a powerful solution to the effects of deforestation, and can have an enormous positive impact on the everyday life of millions of people in underdeveloped countries by improving their nutrition, health, and quality of life.
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The
Global Sun Oven: The World's Most Widely Used Solar Oven
Careful
research and experience has proven that the challenges of introducing
solar cooking in the developing world are far more cultural than they
are technical. The GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ has been carefully designed to
overcome many of the cultural barriers that have limited the success of
solar cooking in the past. While there are a number of cultural
challenges that are unique to each people group that must be accounted
for the two major obstacles that have limited the success of the wide
spread introduction of solar cooking have successfully been over come:
1. In most countries people work while the sun is out and eat their main
meal of the day after the sun has set. Food that is cooked in most solar
cooking devices must be consumed immediately or it will become cold.
GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ are very well insulated which allows food that is
cooked in the afternoon sun to stay warm until it is ready to be
consumed later in the evening. 2. In many countries a woman is working
from very early in the morning until well after sundown. Many solar
cooking devices do not get hot enough requiring the food to be cooked at
a lower temperature for a longer period of time. Women are often far too
busy to devote additional time to solar cooking. The time required to
cook in a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ is comparable to cooking with a wood or
charcoal fire, which makes it easier to gain the acceptance of the women
who use it.
The
demands of massive population growth and the inefficient conversion of
wood to charcoal have outstripped much of world's forests ability to
regenerate. For example, the annual wood consumption for cooking
throughout developing countries is 1,000 pounds of wood per person. A
family of six using a GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ for 80% of their cooking needs
would save 4,800 pounds of wood per year. A GLOBAL SUN OVENŽ has a
useful life of at least 20 years; the wood saved by each oven would be
96,000 pounds. This translates into more than 88 tons of CO2 emissions
that will not be released into the earth's frail atmosphere.
