Luther Krueger: "Goldilocks Tech? A Solar Oven Overview"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2024
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode, Nate is joined by Solar Oven collector and educator Luther Krueger to discuss the ins and outs of solar cooking. In the western world, most of us are used to indoor, gas or electric stoves, typically powered by fossil fuels, and in a third of the world, people are still using solid fuels - wood, coal, or dung - which come with many health and environmental risks. Solar ovens are an alternative which makes use of passive solar energy at a range of temperatures and can be made from basic or reused materials. What would it take on a cultural and economic level for more people to adopt these low-tech solutions? How can solar cooker designs vary to match the needs of the individual and community in varying environmental conditions? Could we take inspiration from this example of Goldilocks Technology for other areas of our lives in a slower, lower-energy throughput future?
About Luther Krueger
Since 2004 Luther Krueger has been collecting unique classic and contemporary solar cookers and promoting solar cooking as the means to halt deforestation, clean unsafe drinking water in remote areas of developing countries, and reducing any community's dependence on fossil fuel. Krueger's unincorporated, volunteer-run Big Blue Sun Museum of Solar Cooking aims to preserve the history of solar cooking while promoting the practice through the video series on the Museum's youtube channel and as contributing moderator to the Solar Cookers World Network on social media and by promoting solar cooking at regional events. Krueger is a Senior Community Faculty member at Metropolitan State University where he teaches the Capstone course for the Master of Public and Nonprofit Administration degree program. Krueger retired from the Minneapolis Police Department in 2023 after twenty-eight years as a civilian community liaison and crime analyst, where he developed and launched several community policing initiatives.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AaLHkRRbbT4
More info, and show notes: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/119-luther-krueger
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Nate Higgins. |
| 0:06.0 | On this show, we describe how energy, the economy, the environment, and human behavior all fit together and what it might mean for our future. |
| 0:15.0 | By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 0:28.3 | Today I'd like to welcome solar cooker expert Luther Kruger to the show. This is a odd topic for this show. We're going to talk about solar cookers. |
| 0:39.7 | I have one. |
| 0:40.9 | I've always been fascinated by them. |
| 0:42.5 | This falls right square in the middle of the Goldilocks tech category, where we get a very |
| 0:50.2 | important human need, cooking food, with very minimal energy input. |
| 0:56.5 | Luther Kruger has been collecting, designing, and promoting solar cookers for over 20 years |
| 1:01.8 | through community education courses, demonstration at farmers markets. |
| 1:06.2 | And recently, he's been traveling across the U.S. to create video interviews with solar cooker |
| 1:12.2 | pioneers and practitioners using solar ovens. |
| 1:17.2 | He and I discussed the basics of using solar cookers, how they might apply to a future with |
| 1:22.5 | lower energy throughput, and this is a great whirlwind tour of the different technologies |
| 1:27.2 | available to cook food outside using the sun. |
| 1:30.7 | Please welcome Luther Kruger. |
| 1:47.6 | Luther, Luther, great to see you. |
| 1:48.8 | Good to see you. |
| 1:49.6 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:50.7 | You are welcome. |
| 1:53.1 | You are an interesting guest. |
... |
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