Concentrating Solar Energy for Community Cooking

Traditionally, conventional fuels such as LPG, kerosene, biomass, and wood have always been used for mass cooking in places such as temples, hotels, and other community centers such as hostels and orphanages. As such, there has been a huge strain on the ever-depleting sources of energy such as fossil fuels and wood, not to forget the pollution and emission of greenhouse gases caused by these fuels. These issues can be tackled using completely green and environment-friendly methods of community cooking. In this paper, one such method of green energy, i.e., “Concentrating solar energy” will be discussed. Parabolic dishes that focus light can produce high temperatures ranging from 350–4000 ℃, which makes them ideal for cooking large quantities of food. Advanced solar steam cooking systems are capable of feeding anywhere from 50 to 25,000 people on a consistent basis. This paper will take up case studies for a few of these mega kitchens, viz. Temple of Shirdi, BrahmaKumaris region of Mount Abu. A proper economic analysis will be presented for these community cooking setups, in which their cost savings and effectiveness against traditional fuels like LPG will be shown.