Blog by Mr. Misch:

Today Mrs. Nowak’s students learned about thermal insulators and energy by constructing and lining solar ovens. The ambient temperature at 11:00 A.M. was 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and after thirty minutes in the sun the warmest solar oven hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The items we put in the ovens were chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. After thirty minutes, the chocolate melted in all of the ovens, and in one or two ovens, the marshmallows became a little softer. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2014 “Nearly 2.7 billion people – almost 40% of the world population and about half of those living in developing countries – rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking, an increase of 38 million compared with last year.” Biomass includes fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural waste and animal dung. Good solar ovens could go a long way to reducing deforestation and help to reduce carbon emissions worldwide. Go solar!