Solar ovens

I realized I needed to learn more about solar power and PV panels. This will work great for lights, computer(s), charging things like cell phones, etc.. The main issue seems to be cooking. Mike Reynolds seems to prefer natural gas to cook and get solar heated warm water a little hotter. It wasn't clear to me how costly such a system would be. For months we've been getting by on one electric heating element. (The electric stove my wife's Mongolian relatives let us borrow stopped working. Folks I'm an American living in Mongolia hoping to get land and build an earthship.) On the bottom it says 1200w. My desktop computer says 500w. I understand that to mean it consumes 1200 watts of power in one hour (on high?). My laptop says something like 220w. Maybe 500 watts for the desktop is some kind of peak power load and actual consumption is much lower. 

I debated: Could one (or 2) heating elements be served by a solar system? I'd have to do the numbers. Mongolians traditionally cook everything over a fire (or stove), like soup. Web sites are warning that it puts too much demand and that this is not the best way. On the other hand some high draw appliances that you run for 2 minutes seem to be OK, so maybe the issue is if you could cook soup for a whole hour, then have to cook other stuff too, or 2-3 items at the same time. But if I'm on the computer for 6 hours, nobody seems to think that's a problem in the solar power web sites. Once I get solar panels, I'll try to see how long it takes to drain the batteries to see how bad it is. 

Then it occurred to me to check out solar ovens, which are hardly mentioned in the Earthship Biotecture literature, though mentioned in a recently posted Guatemala video. I haven't seen these function in real life. Actually I didn't see much of any of this stuff work in person. I don't recall knowing anybody in person relying mainly on solar panels for household needs. I started checking out various solar ovens. It seems they need a little attention. They need to face the sun. It seems they don't fry. It seems the better the reflective material is and the better seal it has in the chamber, the better it will work. I'm 100% sold on the concept and want to build one in the face of earthship wherever the kitchen area is. I was impressed with people on youtube taking simple boxes with aluminum foil and glass getting water to boil. I'm living in Mongolia now. It can get very cold in winter, but it's often sunny. Multiple cloudy days are rare. I saw one site Climatological Information for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia that calculated the average sunny hours per day for UB over 30 years. Throughout the year, UB got 7.65 hours of "Daily Sunshine Duration" every day on average. Let's assume throughout the year that on average there are 12 hours of daylight, then based on their data (there is varying data out there and what "sunshine" is exactly is open to debate), UB gets something like 233 whole days of 12 hours of "sunshine." Actually this makes Mongolia a suitable place for earthships, because there is lots of open land getting lots of sunshine. 

So, I want to exploit as MUCH SOLAR potential as possible, so PV panels, a solar oven, and try a solar toilet. I realize that it is not always sunny, so if it's night time or dark, then we'll just use an alternate method, like a gas stove. We have a small camping type gas stove. Here many stores sell the little cans. My opinion is the gas stoves are too expensive to run here for most people everyday. They might be good enough in a pinch. I will test running a single heating stove element off solar batteries or research that more just in a pinch, like if we cook at 11PM, not everyday. I'm pleased with all the youtube videos I've seen. 

What are other ways to cook off grid in an earthship? Mongolians typically use wood and coal burning stoves. UB has a terrible air pollution problem due to this use. I'd rather not contribute to bad air pollution. I can see burning garbage paper and wood. In winter we may have to have a stove. I hope not. Maybe if we minimize the use to late at night, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. Just adjusting and cooking and eating during sunny hours might work somewhat. At some point we have to cook during night time. My opinion is that natural gas is somewhat too expensive and is NOT a renewable resource, though it burns clean. This is not 100% resolved in my mind, except that I am planning 100% on getting a decent solar oven.