Spain

Last edited: 6 January 2021

In May 2015 dozens of pupils at the Fray Luis de León school in Valladolid built their own solar cookers and displayed them on Spanish TV.

Events[]

17-23 December 2021: Solar Cooking Awareness Week (Southern Hemisphere) - A loosely organized bid to acknowledge the fun and benefits of solar cooking. Show someone how to solar cook and share a meal.

NEW: 24-26 January 2022: Fourth International Conference: Advances in Solar Thermal Food Processing - CONSOLFOOD Chairman, Celestino Ruivo, has announced an extended call for abstracts for the upcoming conference in January 2022, which is now planned to be an online event. Advances in solar cooking as well as solar food processing will be considered for inclusion. The event schedule and submission requirements are in CONSOLFOOD 2022 conference information.

See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Spain

News[]

Andalusian Government seminar presents a parabolic solar cooker at seminar on energy poverty

January 2021: Andalusian Government seminar on energy poverty addresses solar cooking - The University of Huelva presented a solar cooker as an alternative energy source in the kitchen both to conventional cookers and photovoltaic panels. According to the data that was displayed, the solar cooker with a surface of only 1.54 m2 can generate power of 600 watts, equivalent to the one generated by 4.75 m2 photovoltaic panel. The Andalusian company Quantum Energia Verde proposed a financing tool for people living in energy poverty. This concerned the renting of self-consumption renewable energy devices for as low as 1 euro a month without an initial investment. The equipment can be easily set up at home and results in immediate savings on energy bills. Read more...

October 2016: Solar cooking workshop on day 1 of #EuroSun2016 in Palma Mallorca.

May 2015: Dozens of pupils at the Fray Luis de León school in Valladolid built their own solar cookers and displayed them on Spanish TV.

January 2013: Local electrical engineer promotes solar cooking in Galicia - Javier Diz used the celebration of Magosto to demonstrate roasting chestnuts with a parabolic solar cooker. A creative chef, he also made filoas and polbo to show the usefulness of solar cookers.

November 2012: Solar cooking advocate Manolo Vilchez writes from Spain that Washington, D.C. celebrity chef and Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Culinary Ambassador José Andrés visited the country of his birth last August to be honored for his humanitarian and international culinary achievements. While in Spain, Andrés demonstrated once again his commitment to solar cooking, which he discovered after a huge snowstorm in Washington, D.C. knocked out power and closed roads for several days in 2010, and Andrés discovered that he could cook delicious food in the middle of winter with his parabolic solar cooker. "Cooking food with the solar energy is unsurpassed for the pleasure of using a clean, renewable source of energy,” said Andrés, while showing his countrymen in Bullas, Murcia, how to cook with an alSol parabolic solar cooker. Andrés was fresh from his recent trip to Haiti, where he has trained eighty young people at a school in Fond Verrettes to use the alSol parabolic solar cookers he has brought to Haiti in cooperation with the Spanish NGO CESAL. His students are also learning about other clean cooking systems. The students recently experimented with making espresso using their parabolic solar cookers. Andrés, founder of the World Central Kitchen, is also interested in promoting solar food dehydration. He is currently investigating the use of this green energy technology to help Haitians dry fish. AlSol Tecnologias Solares designs, manufactures, and distributes solar parabolic cookers and solar food dryers with the development support of Gehrlicher Solar Spain.

May 2012: The Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) has provided 150 solar parabolic cookers to the people of Ouffi Ait – a small, sunny village southeast of Marrakech in Morocco. The introduction of these solar cookers has reduced the amount of time girls must spend collecting firewood, giving them more time to attend school. Working with the Foreign Association XXI and ADMR from Morocco, AECI targeted women as protagonists of a cleaner, more equitable future in their Morocco Solar Cookers for Rural Families project. Read more...

WWF_RENOWATIO_2011_en_Dénia-_Alicante — WWF RENOWATIO 2011 en Dénia- Alicante

The WWF boat, the Renowatio, visits Dénia, Spain, for a solar cooking demonstration.

July 2011: The World Wildlife Fund sponsors a boat, the Renowatio, to promote solar energy. They visited Dénia on July 24th, where the crew provided a solar cooking demonstration for the public.

The Second Solar Cookers Meeting in Mallorca.

July 2011: See photos of the Second Solar Cookers Meeting in Mallorca on July 10th. It was very successful, with plenty of food for 45 people having a great solar lunch!

Una imágen realizada durante el taller de cocina solar celebrado en el Parque de las Ciencias de Granada, una actividad singular dentro de la celebración de la X edición de Ciencia en Acción.

Septiembre 25-27, 2009: Una imágen realizada durante el taller de cocina solar celebrado en el Parque de las Ciencias de Granada, una actividad singular dentro de la celebración de la X edición de Ciencia en Acción. La campaña climática mundial del 350 se presentó a todos los asistentes al taller y gracias a ellos y sus habilidades, se ha conformado con 33 cocinas solares parabólicas AlSol 1.4 la imagen área del 350, ¡ no te pierdas pasar a la acción el próximo 24 de octubre ¡, conoce como en: La ciencia de 350. El número 350 es las partes por millón que muchos científicos consideran el límite máximo seguro de CO₂ en la atmósfera. Se puede ver el álbum en total y los comentarios aquí.

December 2008: One hundred solar cookers donated to the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women by the Terra Foundation

Septiembre 22-24, 2007: FESTIVAL SOLAR: Fundació Terra organiza el Festival Solar 2007 en el marco de las fiestas de Barcelona, con una demostración de tecnologías solares aplicadas al procesado de alimentos (cocinas solares parabólicas, hornos SOUL ultra ligeros, catas solares, etc.) y otras actividades relacionadas con las energías renovables y la cultura ambiental. Más información: https://web.archive.org/web/20070213203825/http://www.festivalsolar.org/
August 2006: Miguel Ángel Soria reports that he gave a workshop for students at a school in Castellolí, a small town in the province of Barcelona. He showed a solar cooking video, demonstrated solar cookers, and had the students build scale models. They experimented with the full-sized cooker to bake sweet pastries, though inclement weather postponed the baking. Contact: Miguel Ángel Soria

March 2006: Marc Ayats made a parabolic solar cooker by purchasing an umbrella, covering the inside with ordinary aluminum foil and cutting off the handle (because the handle would be at the focal point of the reflector — where you must put your cooking pot). He used ordinary white adhesive to glue the reflective sheet to the umbrella’s cloth. He says it is a very simple cooker to make because umbrellas are normally parabolic in shape. He also says it is easy to move — it folds up like a regular umbrella. The pot is held in place with a wire frame used for holding flower pots. Contact: Marc Ayats Plana

History[]

Main article: History of solar cooking

Archived articles

Climate and culture[]

Wikipedia article on the climate of Spain
Spain Energy Situation - Energypedia
Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables
July 2006: Solar Cooking in Europe - Why and How? - Michael Götz

Resources[]

Possible funders[]

Project evaluations[]

January 2020: The Challenges of Everyday Solar Cooking in Communities - A. Fernándes Torres, C. Karystinos

Main article: Project evaluations

Blogs[]

El Cocinero Solar - (English version)

Articles in the media[]

October 2016: La cocina solar y sus beneficios - Huelva Información
January 2016: Cocinas solares, clubs de lectura y una Escuela de Bienestar - ÚltimoCero (English version)

May 2014: “Hay que poner fin a la anomalía solar en España” - El Correo Del Sol (English version)

May 2013: “La cocina parabólica es mucho más que un horno”: Entrevista Imma y Dieter Seifert - ERA Solar

August 2009: Cocinas para enfriar el planeta por Esther Mira y Helena Migueiz, Integral - Ademas hay informacion sobre la cocina solar, AlSol 1.4.