Club can make sun-baked grub

Several students learned last Saturday that in addition to baking themselves in the sun, they can also use it to bake food. That revelation came during a workshop sponsored by the Penn Society for International Development, which featured a display of a solar box that can roast a chicken in two hours and cook large roasts in four. "Put [a solar box containing] a pot of rice out in the sun and it's cooked in three hours," College senior Jennifer Pico said. Club members constructed the solar box -- which heats the food inside by reflecting solar energy off of the exterior -- out of cardboard, aluminum foil, glass and newspaper. The club is planning to demonstrate the capabilities of the solar box on Locust Walk later this semester, said PENNSID president Jessica Davis, a College senior. Because the solar box can be made from such inexpensive materials, it has the potential to provide underdeveloped countries with a method of cooking food, according to a film shown at the workshop. Such a development would lessen their dependence on fossil fuels and reduce some pressure on their troubled economies, according to the film. Davis said the Peace Corps and similar groups have spread the use of the solar box to the neediest countries, including India and several African nations. Both Zimbabwe and Zaire recently began using solar boxes, Pico said. But use of the box in the United States has been strictly experimental, almost on the level of recreation, Davis said. The principles behind a solar box can also be adapted for other uses, such as heating buildings. "I want to make an energy efficient house and this may help," College senior Chris Rollins said. PENNSID, which was founded two years ago, consists of undergraduates, graduates and professors concerned with international relations, Davis said. Club members have participated in field work in Haiti, Nigeria, Ecuador and India, Davis added.

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