KHUJAND, July 19, 2011, Asia-Plus — Residents of five districts in the northern Sughd province have learnt how to operate solar cookers, or solar ovens. The development support agency, Nov, has reportedly instructed them in using renewable energy resources in the framework of the EU-sponsored project, Efficient Utilization of Domestic Resources.
The Nov employee Ikrom Boboyev says five jamoats in Ayni, Asht, Spitamen, Jabborrasoulov and Ghonchi districts have received solar cookers, solar batteries and solar collectors this year.
“39 solar batteries, solar ovens and solar collectors have been installed at schools, hospitals, first-aid stations, kindergartens and farming units in the mentioned jamoats,” said Boboyev, “Solar batteries are used in the event of lack of central power supply.”
A solar cooker, or solar oven, is a device which concentrates sunlight for use as a heat source. Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide to help reduce fuel costs for low-income people, reduce air pollution and slow deforestation and desertification, caused by use of firewood for cooking. Solar cookers are a form of outdoor cooking and are often used in situations where minimal fuel consumption is important, or the danger of accidental fires is high.
A solar thermal collector is a solar collector designed to collect heat by absorbing sunlight. The term is applied to solar hot water panels, but may also be used to denote more complex installations such as solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers or simpler installations such as solar air heat. The more complex collectors are generally used in solar power plants where solar heat is used to generate electricity by heating water to produce steam which drives a turbine connected to an electrical generator. The simpler collectors are typically used for supplemental space heating in residential and commercial buildings. A collector is a device for converting the energy in solar radiation into a more usable or storable form.
