Use of solar cooker in Nigeria

The sources of energy used in cooking in most Nigeria homes are fossil fuel and biomass. The fuel is becoming expensive beyond the reach of common person. There is need to source for suitable alternative. Therefore, the work focused on use of solar cooker for cooking some staple food in Nigeria. Preliminary study was carried out to quantify appropriate water requirements for cooking some staple foods (rice, bean, maize and yam) in Nigeria. Four levels of crop-water ratio was use in cooking on electric stove. Used quantity of water was determined by material balance analysis. Solar device was used to cook rice, beans, yam and fish. In addition was baking of cake. Temperatures of device were recorded when un-loaded and loaded. Water required to cook a given quantity of rice was 1.25 times the quantity of rice. To cook a given weight of beans about 1.4 times of water by weight was used while1.63 times the quantity of the maize was required. Yam was properly cooked by water of 0.2 times weight. Mean stagnation temperatures of the solar device were 134 ± 8.9°C, 120 ± 6.2°C and 121 ± 7.1°C for first, second and third year respectively Jollof rice (520 g), beans (420 g) and yam (1400 g) were properly cooked in 50, 60 and 50 minutes respectively. In addition, flour (650 g) was successfully baked into cake after 60 minutes. The study reinforced the views that solar devices can play a major role in solving Nigerian’s domestic energy problem especially in the rural areas rather than being a novelty demonstration of solar energy use.