The ingeniously simple design uses two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, and an acrylic cover that lets in the sun's rays and traps them.
Black paint on the inner box, and silver foil on the outer one, help concentrate the heat. The trapped rays make the inside hot enough to cook casseroles, bake bread and boil water.
I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Guatemala. I lived there for about two years. I know that many the Chapines (Guatemalans) could benefit greatly from the box oven. Many people in Guatemala use open fires or wood-burning stoves to cook their food or boil their water (which needs boiling in order to be drinkable). The smoke from these fires is trapped inside the people's one room houses/huts and is very hazerdous to the residents' health. If used more widely in devolping countries, the box oven would improve health by decreasing smoke inhalation and decrease deforistation. The oven box would also save several lives by enabling people to boil their drinking water.
In all its glory, the oven box does have some setbacks. In Guatemala there are two seasons: the sunny season and the rainy season. During the rainy season I walked through streets with water up to my knees on several occasions. So, how would the oven box work during the rainy season? The answer is that it wouldn't work. The people would have to return to an open fire or wood-burning stove during these months. While this may be a setback for the box oven, it does not discount the great benefit it could provide during the sunny months.
The oven box is not only a practical solution to many problems, but also an economical solution as well. According to Saeed, the oven box can be produced for about $5. Five dollars may not seem like much money to you, but it seems like a lot of money to people who are making less than a dollar a day. However, If the people understand how much money they would save each month by not having to purchase wood, they would easily find ways to save enough money for one of these box ovens.
Humanitarian groups should consider taking on the box oven as a new project because of it's high demand, significant benefits, and low cost.
Follow this link to read the article mentioned above and learn more about the box oven.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/09/solar.oven.global.warming/index.html
