"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
om...
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...
[...]
I once visited an Indian village where the women were preparing alfresco
meals by using sunlight focussed via a 1m diameter concave mirrors on to
the
pots. The number of burnt hands were legion.

That's interesting: I'd heard about these projects, but never found
out how they worked out. OT, I know; but was it successful, in the
sense that they carried on doing it after the experimental period? I
heard that there was a problem in that people most needed energy for
cooking late in the day when there was little or no sun.

My colleagues at Poona told me that the project eventually had to be
abandoned, as it turned out to be simply too dangerous. And yes, you could
not prepare cooked food during the monsoon and in the evenings.

Franz