While this will not exactly be a ‘refrigerator’ in the conventional sense of the word, it will be a gadget that will be of major help to a developing economy like India and many other nations where the existing infrastructure for food storage and processing is pretty weak and very unreliable. The best part is that the new ‘food storage cell’ being developed by a company from MIT uses Solar Power, instead of conventional energy making it all the more better.
Promethean Power, a spin-off company from MIT is planning to develop a solar-powered refrigerator which has no moving parts. In fact, the end product isn’t a refrigerator at all but a small building where dairy and other perishable goods could be housed. The small building has a small solar panel array on the roof to harness energy. Sandwiched in between ceramic tiles on the walls are semiconductor thermoelectric modules which will convert the energy harnessed by the solar panels into cold air.
Since the target market is developing countries (India, to be exact), the intended customers are not individuals but rather processors and food distributors who are looking for a more affordable and eco-friendly alternative to back-up diesel generators to keep their goods cool. Promethean Power plans to display a prototype unit at the Emerging Technologies conference in MIT next month- A prototype we will obviously be keeping a very close eye on. Such innovative green technology is really the need of the hour rather than fancy lab concepts that do not filter down to those who really need help!
Via: goodcleantech
