Faced with the ban on campfires to avoid fires, scouts are developing solar cooking in Montpellier

Lucas Mersch et son unité de scouts testent la cuisine solaire pour la première fois en conditions réelles. Midi Libre – Lucas Mersch

Une innovation écologique développée par un groupe de scouts du Pic Saint-Loup, qui permet de manger chaud sur leur lieu de camp tout en respectant les contraintes environnementales et sécuritaires.

While the Scouts of France have been facing, for several years, the ban on making campfires in the forests of the south of France, Lucas Mersch, a 22-year-old from Montpellier, ;rsquo;started designing a solar kitchen with his Pic Saint-Loup group. "The ban on campfires in the forest touches more and more regions. We therefore wanted to find a safer and more ecological alternative than the gas we were currently using", explains the head of unit.

To remedy this, the young Montpellier very involved in the Baden-Powell movement – the founder of scouting – met José-Luc Manzanares, heliodesigner in Mauguio, specialized in solar ovens, in order to understand how this innovative technology works.

"It’is a simple device consisting of a reflector which concentrates the sun's rays on a pot. It’is a "Low Tech" because it is made of simple materials that are easy to build and repair in the event of breakage", he assures.

Conclusive field tests

Last summer, while the joyful group of scouts from Pic Saint-Loup set out to discover Corsica, they made it their mission to discover Corsica. use the solar kitchen as frequently as possible. "It was a very enriching experience cooking with the sun and it greatly contributed to progressing the project by finding the strengths and weaknesses of this solar cooker. While looking for a complementary solution to the cooker, we found the Solar Brother brand which offers a wide range of equipment of this type”, rejoices Lucas. Result: an hour and a half of cooking for a complete tagine.

If for the moment this cooking system cannot replace the gas bottles used in the camp areas, the solar kitchen allows young people in the region to discover a new way to consume.

"By changing the way we cook and by taking ownership of how solar cooking works, we allow young people to acquire knowledge , skills and attitudes towards experimentation. Learning through action, one of the pillars of the Scout method, allows young people to succeed but also to make mistakes and fail".

I subscribe to read more