02/09/2005 - International
— It's obvious we need solutions to climate
change as well as real assistance to developing
nations. SolarChill is a new ozone-layer friendly
refrigeration technology running entirely
on solar power, enabling the safe delivery
of vaccines and food to regions of the world
without electricity.
SolarChill was born through separate discussions
between Greenpeace, the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), and the World Health Organization.
The big challenge: providing affordable and
environmentally safe refrigeration for the
maintenance of vaccines and medicines, and
the preservation of food, in parts of the
world that have no electricity or have unreliable
supplies of electricity. At the moment refrigerators
in developing countries usually use kerosene,
propane and to far lesser extent, solar power.
Vital medicine is most often stored in unreliable
kerosene refrigerators.
Kerosene and vaccine
Kerosene refrigerators consume about 1 litre
of kerosene daily. Not only do they emit the
unpleasant fumes, they occasionally catch
on fire, they need to be regularly fuelled
up, and they are often not reliable for maintaining
the required vaccine temperature.
Of course they are also environmentally harmful
as the burning of kerosene contributes to
global warming. There are approximately 100,000
kerosene refrigerators in use today around
the world for cooling vaccines, which means
they produce approximately between 73 and
91 million kilograms of CO2 each year!
What about solar power?
Solar Vaccine Coolers are already in use
in parts of the world that lack electricity,
and they have proven to be more reliable than
their kerosene counterparts.
However, there are only approximately 6,000
solar vaccine coolers around the world today.
Two big problems: they rely on batteries,
which are expensive and toxic to make and
dispose of, and they cost more than kerosene
coolers.
The cost of a solar cooler today is in the
US$3500 to US$4500 range. In comparison, the
cost of the SolarChill package, cooler and
solar panels combined, is projected to come
in around US$1500.
The birth of SolarChill
Coincidentally, at about the same time as
we were talking with UNEP and WHO, the Danish
Technological Institute (DTI) began the development
of a new solar refrigerator that bypassed
the use of batteries. We decided to join forces.
We provided the funds for the development
of the first SolarChill prototypes. These
were exhibited at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002 in Johannesburg, South
Africa.
What's so special about these refrigerators?
Dispensing polio vaccine. Solar chill technology
will allow vital vaccines to reach remote
areas to help save lives.
SolarChill refrigerators don't need batteries
or a connection to the electrical grid - they
store power in three 60W voltaic panels. They
do however have an AC/DC converter, which
provides flexibility to use wind, hydropower,
bio-gas or grid energy (and even a car battery!)
when there is not enough sun. The coolers
are also energy efficient because they have
excellent insulation. They don't contribute
to global warming thanks to the special hydrocarbon
system made by our friends at DTI and their
partners.
Even maintaining a constant temperature,
important where medicine is concerned, doesn't
need an electronic controller - it is managed
through natural convection methods.
A single SolarChill unit can serve a population
of 50,000 people for preserving vaccines,
and will be 50 - 60 percent cheaper than current
solar refrigerator models.
Can I buy one for my new kitchen?
Not yet ... a second generation of prototypes
of the SolarChill Vaccine Cooler went into
field testing at the beginning of 2004 in
Senegal, Indonesia and Cuba. 10 prototypes
of the chest freezer vaccine cooler are being
tested under a variety of climatic conditions,
including at the DTI laboratory in Denmark.
Plans call for similar field testing of the
upright freezer SolarChill Food Refrigerator
in 2005.
After that, the technology will be made freely
available to manufacturers around the world,
so we hope that after that SolarChill will
be available in both developing countries
and your local department store.
