Wood, sunshine and solar ovens

In some villages far from Egypt, families still cook on wood fires. Children carry wood from the forest, and every year the walk gets longer because the nearest trees have been cut down. Cutting down forests faster than they can grow back is called deforestation. When the trees go, animals lose their homes, the soil can be washed away and fewer plants are left for medicines. A different source of energy could help, and the Sun is one. Solar energy is free, because sunshine costs nothing. It is renewable, because the Sun shines every day, and it is clean, because it makes no smoke. It also saves trees. But there are drawbacks. Solar equipment can be expensive. And sunshine is not the same everywhere: it changes with the time of day, the season, clouds and the place on Earth. At night there is none.