According to oecd data, today more than a billion people around the globe live without access to basic electricity and modern technology. In order to buy fresh food, the inhabitants of small african villages have to spend six hours on the market. At the same time, the scarcity of refrigeration equipment can cause considerable waste of agricultural products。
In order to remedy this situation, a start-up company called evaptainers (meaning a combination of “evaporation” and “containers”) invented a non-electric refrigerator that can store food and medicines at low temperatures. Refrigeration principles mimic the traditional refrigerated containers in the african region, “cans”, which can only take the heat and reduce the temperature within the refrigerator by using water from the evaporation tanks。
The company's latest ev-8 refrigerator is a portable storage unit with a capacity of 60 litres. Glass fibres can be collected during transport and parts of polypropylene can be folded. The capacity of the tank is 1. 5 litres, with an average daily water consumption of 1 litre, and the water is not exposed to food, so that water from any source can be used。
When users fill water in water tanks, ev-8 can reduce internal temperatures by 15-20 degrees celsius, with more cooling in dry hot areas. This would extend the food security period from two days to two weeks。
Evaptainers have also experienced technical problems. They encountered difficulties in choosing the water tank material, which needed to allow the vapour to pass without being lost too quickly. Eventually they found a 3m vhb tape。
Evaptainers are currently being piloted in morocco for $30. There is political stability, lack of electricity and a dry climate, where refrigerators can play their greatest role. About 30 moroccan families used the refrigerator, and more will benefit from it in the summer。
In addition to helping residents in areas with electricity shortages, evaptainers is planning to launch this refrigerator in the outdoor equipment market next year, with the united states market selling within $200. The profits from this will be used to support work in backward areas。
The founder, spencer taylor, stated that the company had received nearly $400,000 and would expand to commercial production within six months。
