Solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional stoves, and advanced, large-scale solar cookers can cook for hundreds of people. Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs (especially where monetary reciprocity is low) and air pollution, and to slow down the deforestation and desertification caused by gathering firewood for cooking.
Solar cookers are the application of solar energy used to cook, bake, and fry food. Solar Cookers can also be used for pasteurization. Solar cooker converts the radiant energy to the heat energy which is used for cooking food. Growing awareness for the use of renewable energy along with escalating prices of non renewable energy drives the solar cooker market. Government support and funding for the use of solar energy also stimulates the growth of solar cooker market.
The solar cooker market can be segmented on the basis of the construction techniques utilized for manufacturing. The broad segmentations on the basis of construction can be done as solar box cooker, solar panel cooker and solar parabolic cooker. The solar box cookers are the most commonly available form of solar cookers in the market currently. These cookers are extremely robust in nature and operate very safely with little or no supervision required for operating.