Evaptainer
The solution
Evaptainers are electricity-free mobile refrigeration units which run at low-cost. Utilizing the phenomenon of evaporative cooling, rather than more energy-intensive vapor compression refrigeration, they are ideal for use in off-grid rural areas with low relative humidity.
Evaporative cooling has been employed successfully for centuries in products like the Zeer Pot. Proven to be effective for agricultural use, these products have been known to triple or quadruple the shelf-life of most produce. The company has taken these inventions and upgraded them for modern and commercial use. Using state-of-the art materials and improved design, they have created more effective, more durable, easier to use, mass-producible units. The units reach the same thermal efficiency as the Zeer Pot and have extended storage times of fresh food from days to weeks in pilot program tests.
The Evaptainer has a wide range of applicability and potential markets given the current post-harvest food spoilage levels in developing markets.
Implementation & Business Approach
The ultimate aim is to sell Evaptainer units in bulk to institutional buyers such as government development projects, NGOs, agricultural cooperatives and refugee camps, as well as rural, low-income consumers in Morocco.
The devices will be sold at a souk stall: The strategy is to rent out space for a souk stall in each of the communities to which the units are to be sold. Since souks only meet once per week, a sales associate would travel to 4 different souks each week within a small regional coverage zone. They would conduct all advertisements and sales from the souk stall.
Any customer interested in the product would be able to buy on the spot or reserve a unit to be bought at the same souk the following week. In order to minimize shipping costs, sales associates could travel around with a demonstration unit and however many units were ordered the previous week.
The story behind Evaptainers
Sources
- empowering people. Network database https://www.empowering-people-network.siemens-stiftung.org/en/solutions/projects/evaptainer/
- Evaptainer Websitehttp://www.evaptainers.com/
