Sun power could be really cooking

A solar cooker that can be made for a few dollars has won a prize for best eco-idea. An inventor in Kenya came up with the cardboard-based cooker. It can be used for bloiling water, baking or boiling food.

He named it "Kyoto Cooker" after the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at limiting greenhouse emissions, and conserving the world's forests.

Hundreds of millions of people across the warmer sections of the world are currently dependent on burning wood for heat and cooking. Wide use of solar cookers could greatly reduce deforestation and smoke emissions from wood fires.

Some of the other cool ideas that made it into the contest finals: a livestock feed additive, derived from garlic, cutting intestinal methane off-gassing (nice phrase, huh?) by at least 5%; a cooling system using exhaust air that evaporate water in hollow tiles; a microwave oven that turns makes charcoal efficiently.