Cool: Fridge Without Using Electricity!
This is incredible idea is an extension of the pottery water cooling vessels used though the millennia.
Cool: Fridge Without Using Electricity!
This is Mohammed Bah Abba's Pot-in-pot invention. In northern Nigeria, where Mohammed is from, over 90% of the villages have no electricity. His invention, which he won a Rolex Award for (and $100,000), is a refrigerator than runs without electricity.
Here's how it works. You take a smaller pot and put it inside a larger pot. Fill the space in between them with wet sand, and cover the top with a wet cloth. When the water evaporates, it pulls the heat out with it, making the inside cold. It's a natural, cheap, easy-to-make refrigerator.
So, instead of perishable foods rotting after only three days, they can last up to three weeks. Obviously, this has the potential to change their lives. And it already has -- there are more girls attending school, for example, as their families no longer need them to sell food in the market.
Excellent - only slight drawback for some things might be dampness inside the inner pot, but why not have a plastic or metal inner pot, or even a plastic bag? - do need water though - getting scarce in those parts and sun/dry weather of course (scarce in these parts - SW Scotland).
ReplyDeleteInteresting point. I am going to be making some and testing them out over a 12 month period.
ReplyDeleteThe water is a problem of course but providing you have a supply this device could go a long way to preserving food in hot climates with limited or no electricity.