College Student Comes Up With Affordable Solar-powered Fridge
It seems a bit odd that the idea of 21 year old British student Emily Cummins is really being seriously looked at, now when you consider that both the blueprint and the usage of a simple technique of evaporation to cool things has been in operation since long.
The not-so-unique cooling device conceived by the young Brit is a simple machine that contains two cylinders. The inner metal cylinder holds the perishable stuff while the outer cylinder that is soaked in mater and made out of wood helps keep stuff cool (keeps everything cool for days) at a comfortable 6° C without using any power.
The ironic thing is that the technique that is being hailed for its simplicity and convenience – apart from its cheap cost of production, has been something in use since long across he planet. Pot’s made out of clay and covered with a jute fabric drenched in water are used extensively in eastern countries as water cooling units, while using ice in a beer container to keep it cold is no different to a certain extent.
The simple unit of refrigeration developed by Cummins might be an upgraded version of the existing technique, but it is unlikely to set anything on fire.
Yet, one must appreciate the effort of a college student when it comes to her commitment towards cleaner and better future. If college students can do this, surely top notch IT researchers can give us much better! [via CleanTechnica]
Image courtesy of Darren Hester
I think we have to keep in perspective the efficiency of Google searching versus a car trip a couple miles down to our local library. Almost all of our modern activities result in some type of emissions. Our focus shouldn’t be on the minutia of Google searches (a most efficient alternative) but the bigger ones in our daily lives – casual drives to a mall that’s farther from home but nicer than that strip mall close by, keeping that cranky old inefficient fridge around because we never get around to buying a real efficient high EnergyStar rated one, consuming highly plastic wrapped “foods”, choosing an electric provider that burns coal (and is cheaper) instead of coughing up the extra 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt for a clean energy provider (not available for everyone I know), etc.