Since she was four years old Emily Cummins has been creating very useful and eco friendly products inside her grandfather’s potting shed. Her interest in helping Third World Countries led her to create a portable solar fridge that can keep perishables cool for days at a temperature of 6c.
So, how did Emily get this idea? She spent a great deal of time researching how to keep things cool and discovered that evaporation plays an important role in the cooling process.
With a hammer, a metal cylinder and some wood/plastic Emily was able to create a fridge that uses solar electricity to keep food cold and can easily be transferred to another location.
How does it work?
It’s quite interesting how the solar fridge works. Here’s a diagram:
The best thing about this solar power invention is that it has already proven useful in Africa! Emily spent 5 months in Africa and let families try out her invention. She became known as ‘The Fridge Lady’ and gave many people hope for the future.
This solar electricity fridge proves that with a little curiosity and hard work almost anyone can create an eco friendly and life-changing product.
So, now that you’re inspired, are you ready to change some lives for the better?
Source: Mail Online.
My understanding was that this exact concept was created by a man in Nigeria to provide cheap refrigeration for vegetables in his village. Check out the pot-in-a-pot design over here: Mohammed Bah Abba invents energyless refrigerator.
Maybe he got the idea from her or the other way around. It’s really an older concept I’d be willing to bet…
The point, Matthew, is that it’s portable. I have a pot in pot refrigerator, and with the weight of the two pots, 50 lbs. of sand between them plus the weight of the water used in the sand for evaporation, this pot-in-pot fridge is definitely NOT portable!
Regardless of where the idea originated, the practical reality remains that a great number of people are able to benefit. If indeed you were to dig back further in time this simple technology was being used in India to cool buildings with a simple pan filled with water and straw placed above.
Wow, so not a new idea. Coolers based on this basic design have been used with porous crockery and burlap sacks here in Arizona for at least 130 years+ Still, if it is light weight and works, it is an improvement. But in no way shape or form is this her original invention.
OMG SO AWESOME… if she had come up with the idea by herself. But i guess plagiarism is the backbone of the American way. Martin Luther king plagiarized his dissertation, Edison stole AC from Tesla, and now a highschool bint is getting a scholarship off of some Nigerian’s ingenuity.
Hey you know what? I have a great idea for my College Final project. Picture this… a fridge, that runs on evaporation. Brilliant, right? Man this is going to do so much good for the world. I am going to be RICH.
i saw the same thing made by a native of some island…good idea though
Van: Way to go… by the way, it says BRITISH student. Also, no mention of any work that this is going to any kind of education or credit for school or university, just that she is going around Africa to showcase her creation. No, the concept isn’t new, but the functionality is; as Silani points out this just shows a portable version of the idea.
I guess the best news her, besides the potential for her creation to help thousands, if not millions, in Africa, is that you’ve restored my faith that there will always be someone around to take my order at McDonald’s.
I wish I had this in college!
Wesley Cronk, LEED GA
Sustainability Director
http://seecfoundation.org/
You are such a help for the environment. Keep on making green things!!!!
Thanks for making the effort to share this with us, just loved it.
Of course the concept isn’t new but in another article it is mentioned that she did research on older processes. She is a good person trying to do good,no need to give her shit for it!
Beautiful discovery by Emily. I would like to learn more about this Solar Fridge because i am realy interested to be a per Taker of this knowledge. Besides, i stay in Nigeria (Developing Country)