FYI: Solar Cooker for Simply $5

        With a few common household materials along with time and creativity, one is able to create a personal stove capable of reaching temperatures approximately between 250° to 375° Fahrenheit, solely powered by the sun. Step-by-step instructions are provided by Instructables user sclausson; this invention is known as the Purple Fig Solar Cooker, which can be built with simple items that can be found in convenience areas. The list of materials include a posterboard, aluminium foil, glue, a shoelace, a couple of binder clips as well as purple paint (obviously). According to the creator of this invention, the total cost of the materials should be under $5 (and possibly free to those households that may already have the needed materials). 

          The posterboard helps form the structure needed for the cooker while the foil is to provide the surface for concentrating the sun's rays. The glue helps to hold the foil to the posterboard while the binder clips aid in holding the structure in place. The shoelace is needed as a key component of the solar cooker but if you are interested in making one, do find out more here at Purple Fig Solar Cooker at Instructables. Enjoy!

Uruguay Plans Cheap Solar Energy!

       The South American nation, Uruguay, is offering contracts to buy power equivalent to 200 megawatts of solar farms at the world's cheapest rates. Ramon Mendez, a director of energy at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, has remarked that President Jose Mujica is planning to sign a decree that will require Uruguay's national power utility to purchase electricity from projects at a set rate of $90 a megawatt hour. The nation plans to produce some of the world's cheapest energy, referring mostly to solar and wind energy projects.
         China is offering Uruguay $160 a megawatt hour while Germany offers $154.33 a megawatt hour. Four months after the decree is passed, developers have the opportunity of proposing offers at a first-come first-serve basis. Mendez recalls that three companies have already proclaimed in selling at the price of $90 a megawatt hour. However, if the offers fail, they will plan to wait another couple of years until the equipment prices drop and they will try again.
        The decree that is to be issued also calls for a bid of developing a 1-megawatt and a 5-megawatt plant. Both these projects are to provide the national power utility power for 25 years at a price. Though this decree is currently in circulation, 80% of the nation's electricity is derived from hydroelectric power plants, costing on average $80 a megawatt hour. In a 2011 auction, Uruguay was offered a contract of  power at $63 a megawatt hour from wind developers. This nation has many projects in development to sustain their population as a low-cost nation.