How to Make a Solar Cooker

Sid, who once aspired to study engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic, is the Regents’ go-to guy for technical projects. Here’s a plan for a solar cooker he found in a book from the Librarians:

Easy Lid Solar Cooker

This is exactly the sort of project that interests him, as opposed to planning how to turn the hotel swimming pool into a garden:

They went downstairs where they found Sid in the lobby doing things with foil and cardboard boxes. “Getting too warm outside to keep building a fire in the kitchen grill,” he explained. “Heats up the whole damn place, not to mention it’s always been a fire and carbon monoxide danger. So we’re going to start testing solar box cookers as soon as I get a few made.”

“My family had one at our retreat,” Cassie said, taking a closer look. “I didn’t know they could be made with foil.” Seeing some plans on a coffee table, she picked them up. “This looks familiar. What are you going to use for the window part?”

“There’s broken glass everywhere,” Sid said with a wave of his hand. “And if it doesn’t suit, I’ll break more. You really have to ask?”

“What we actually came here for,” Galahad said, “Was to talk to you about our potato garden.”

Sid fixed him with a withering look. “I’m an engineer, not a farmer or landscape designer.”

“And if you want something to cook in your shiny box, you’ll help us out. Consider it civil engineering.”

They locked eyes and Sid looked away first. “Okay. But if I help you design something, that doesn’t mean I’m going to build it for you, too. And I’ll need some help with these box cookers to compensate me for my time.”

Nice guy, that Sid. He got a little pissy about the goat, too. But when an opportunity to work with Fresnel lenses comes his way, it'll be a different story.