Many of us will be firing up our grills this weekend for some well-deserved barbecue time. After all, barbecuing is one of America’s greatest pastimes, but it certainly isn’t one of our most environmentally friendly. Whether you prefer charcoal, wood chips or propane, grilling releases emissions and contributes to poor air quality. Up until now, solar powered grilling has required, as you might expect, the sun, which means traditional fuel-fired grills are required after sunset. But new solar technology developed by MIT professor David Wilson could bring a nighttime solar-powered grill to the market very soon; an invention also of great benefit to those in developing nations who rely on wood to cook all their food.
Wilson’s technology harnesses the sun and stores latent heat to allow cooking times for up to an amazing twenty five hours at temperatures above 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The technology uses a Fresnel lens to harness the sun’s energy to melt down a container of Lithium Nitrate. The Lithium Nitrate acts as a battery storing thermal energy for 25 hours at a time. The heat is then released as convection for outdoor cooking.
“There are a lot of solar cookers out there,” says Wilson, “but surprisingly not many using latent-heat storage as an attribute to cook the food.” Wilson developed the idea after spending time in Nigeria, where wood is used for cooking, which causes a number of problems. Not only is cooking with firewood leading to respiratory illnesses, but is also increasing the rate of deforestation and women are being raped while searching for wood.
A group of MIT students are working with the technology to develop a prototype solar grill. Derek Ham, Eric Uva, and Theodora Vardouli are conducting a study through their multi-disciplinary course “iTeams,” short for “Innovation Teams”, to determine the interest in such a concept and then hopefully launch a business to manufacture and distribute these grills. The goal is to develop a business model for distributing solar grills to developing nations as well as a grill for the American market. The American version is expected to be a hybrid propane/solar model that will allow for flame cooking as well as through thermal convection. If all goes well, in a couple years we just be giving solar grills as presents on Father’s Day and enjoying sun-kissed instead of char-broiled even after the sun goes down.
+ Solar Grill on Barbecue Lovers
Via Treehugger
Images ©Derek Ham
I know these photos are photoshopped BUT all inventions have their origins in IDEAS + THOUGHTS everything we use today was once unimaginable so before we get too down on this amazing technology idea lets celebrate innovation.
The photo montages in each happy scene leave me with a bad taste in the mouth…is this just another gadget riding on the ‘eco’ wave and ‘help the poor’ in developing countries?
wondering why these grills need to be photoshopped into the pictures. doesnt the grill actually exist? even the one with the smug looking rich people grilling is photoshopped.
Please make them for the European market too! I’m happy to help market them!
Thanks. Great idea for clean grilling, but the more sustainable suggestion would be to grill vegetables and not animal flesh. The animal industry is unsustainable and the environmental impact extremely negative.
I believe the whole Wilson solar stove you see is a scam. They never supply any additional information and the photos are all fake – Photoshop work, not actual application of the product.
Plenty of people chiming in to say how wonderful it is, but no one from Wilson to respond. Maybe if we asked how we could send tons of investment money instead of how we could apply the technology in impoverished countries we’d get a response.
Hello.
This is a fantastic use of knowledge.
If possible I would like to know more about the project and material involved to manufacture this grill. It seems a fresnel special lense is used and it a core of this project.
Alexandre.turino@gmail.com
Where can we buy this?
Giant leaves for dinner again??
Instead of donating a dollar a day, Photoshop a smile on a starving African child’s face!
(thanks psdisasters)
Not sure of the technology, but could sodium replace the lithium? I know researchers in Perth Australia have just had a breakthrough with water based sodium ion batteries, not yet finished but looks really positive.
Sodium would make the whole system far cheaper, more accessible to developing nations and be far better for the environment. Could it work?
That photo is disgusting. What a PR nightmare. You’d think they’d actually go and test said grill in a 3rd world country to get the photo. It’s probably stock.
if it can cook Indian style food, I would like to be reseller and developer in India. let me know. thanks
Hi savior of the Planet. How much does it cost? I am currently living in India, I would like to purchase a few?
Mirza
I want one for for me in AZ! Jamaica could use these as well for jerking.
Okay, where do we learn if this is economically viable for poorer nations such as Haiti. We do a lot of outreach work there, but funds are always very tight. As much as I’d love to see this technology there, it must be affordable or it will never happen. How much?
I’m sorry but the photos look surreal – retouched photography created on someone’s desktop. Interesting idea but it is highly unlikely that the communities in need will ever receive these shiny, state of the art appliances. Great marketing scheme though – appealing to our need to provide sustainable solutions to these communities in need. but I’m not buying
Perhaps the best market for this thing is in industrialized countries, where it can supplant residential propane barbecues. I can’t imagine it’s going to cheap anytime soon and, yes, it appears to be a prototype. Calling you local big box store for more information will certainly get you nowhere for now.
I wouldn’t be concerned with the lithium nitrate in this grill any more than most here would be concerned with poisoning from lithium ion based batteries in their portable electronic devices. Like a battery, it’s a sealed system. The chemicals don’t become an issue unless the device is dismantled far beyond most end users would dare to venture. Like a lithium ion battery, having the heat storage element properly recycled at the end of its lifespan is what needs to be insured.
This sounds “cool’ but is it appropriate technology? Can it be made for less than $4? Probably not. So it’s not going to be feasible for poor people in Africa. The rocket stove, which can be made from an old can and some mud, costs just pennies, and can cook a whole meal with a handful of small twigs. This techno-fix thing should be viewed as old hat by the 21st century.
I would like to develop one like this in India. Could you help me in this.
Good invention may be good market too
amazing. where can i get info to buy one of those ?
Why are all the photos obviously photoshopped?
Yes I am interested in being a distributor one day of the solar grills.
I sent this article to a grilling enthusiast friend of mine. He said that the likes the concept, but also favors the charcoal flavor he gets when he grills. Hopefully the designers can incorporate a layer for adding some charcoal (for flavor, and for backup, when the solar heating part is under repair, etc.). Great idea, if the Lithium Nitrate part is environmentally friendly!
Nice unbelievable thought,it is available in India
I would like to have one of these to buy for my home. Have somebody email me. heather.payden@gmail.com
I have questions
1 can it cook food as well asian curries and bake?
upload a vedio showing the working
what is the price?
Well you won’t get it at Lowes. I work in that area and just verified it does not exist to Lowes. In fact I cannot find this grill anywhere yet. MIT is still working it out I guess.
I just hope they make it affordable to the poor people of Nigeria also should look at the Philippines as many use wood and charcoal there. Just how much will the cost of these grills be anyway give me a round about answer thanks.
Anything solar is good. But grilling food produces all kinds of toxins, especially with meat. The worst are AGEs: Advanced Glycation End Products. See: http://www.caseperformance.com/85/high-heat-cooking-ages-and-their-effects-on-human-health-part-ii
As a U.S. consumer, I would be highly interested in purchasing this. I do also wish to know more about the lithium nitrate and its impact on the environment, both while being used and after the life of grill.
(Chemist answering here): When the salt is heated to it’s melting point (~520 deg F), additional energy is required to convert the solid at that temperature into a liquid (this energy is reliberated when the liquid returns to solid state – the energy of crystallization). Assuming the salt is stable over the temperature range involved (which is not a trivial assumption with respect to Nitrates being corrosive and strong oxidants) you should be able to melt/recrystallize the salt many many times (in effect creating a heat battery).
So the sun would provide the energy to melt the solid Lithium Nitrate,and it could then be stored (assuming good insulation, etc) until needed for cooking. There are a number of technical problems I can see (as you have noted), but in theory, it could work.
With respect to water, there are much simpler designs for producing hot water. There are numerous solar oven designs on the net. The technology is neither new nor particularly difficult (the heat battery concept here is new to my eyes).
The reason they’re using charcoal to cook in very poor countries is because that’s all they can afford. I don’t think an expensive solar grill comprised of a toxic molten lithium nitrate is going to do much to resolve the poverty.
I am so interested with Wilson Solar Grill. Is it possible to buy?
Can’t wait, I want one now so I can begin saving the earth sooner and make it with out the Need of Propane cause It cost money and that is still buring a Fossil Fuel no matter how the fuel was made. I would perfer Straight Sun Light so I would be the Envy of the Neigborhood and be the Fore Runner to the Best Technology in the state that saves the Planet.
My question regards “to melt a container of Lithium Nitrate” what issues to health or enviroment does this entail? Nothing just disappears once melted and energy released then what? Thanks
this should work for hot water as well ?
Nenny, would you please contact me on another matter?
Thanks,
Dan
engineecology_at_gmail.com
this is great iwant it to purchase in india {jaipur}.
I am so interested with Wilson Solar Grill. Is it possible to buy the prototype and produce it in Indonesia? Or at first my company would like to apply to be sole distributor in Indonesia? This grill would be in highly demand as Indonesia is tropical country.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon
This would be just the thing in the rural areas of Cambodia where there is little electricity and wood and charcoal are used for cooking. I can speak from experience of cooking on small propane and using simple solar cookers as well as using a brick oven.
WOW!! That is great way to garnet the energy.
Thanks for sharing with us.