Go Energy Less: a desert fridge revolutionizing food preservation in Morocco

Posted on 07/05/2024

Go Energy Less is a perfect fridge for rural areas where there is no electricity: the evaporation of water from the sand dissipates the heat and keeps the temperature inside low

@goenergyless/Facebook

A groundbreaking invention

The Go Energy Less refrigerator is an innovative solution crafted by engineer Raowia Lamhar, aimed at transforming the way food is preserved in electricity-scarce areas of Morocco. Utilizing an age-old preservation method, this desert fridge maintains freshness without any electrical power. As Lamhar explained, Go Energy Less harnesses a traditional conservation technique to keep food cool using no electricity.

Inspiration behind the innovation

In 2015, during a study trip near Khénifra, a remote mountainous region of Morocco, Lamhar encountered communities struggling with the absence of electricity and running water. This challenge sparked the idea for Go Energy Less. “I saw firsthand the difficulty of preserving food and medicine in these conditions,” Lamhar shared, highlighting the dire need for a practical solution.

Design and Functionality

The fridge’s design consists of two differently sized clay pots connected and separated by a layer of wet sand. This setup utilizes evaporative cooling to keep the interior cool.

The evaporation of water from the sand dissipates the heat inside the fridge, maintaining a steady temperature of 43°F in arid areas and 54°F in humid areas,” Lamhar described. This feature is crucial for preserving sensitive items like insulin and other medications.

Medicine preservation made possible

Beyond food, Go Energy Less also significantly impacts medicine preservation, a vital aspect for those with chronic illnesses requiring cool storage for their medications. The fridge operates efficiently as long as the sand is kept moist daily.

Affordable and impactful

Launched in 2016, Lamhar’s company produces two models of the refrigerator: one for rural areas priced at 220 dirhams and another for urban settings at 500 dirhams. These affordable options have provided a sustainable and practical solution for food preservation across Moroccan communities, thus improving their quality of life.

Global environmental impact

The refrigerator’s ability to preserve without electricity has not only benefited Moroccan communities but has also caught the attention of environmentalists worldwide. “Its effectiveness in food preservation makes it an appealing choice even for urban households, helping to lessen the environmental impact of conventional electric refrigerators,” Lamhar noted.

The Go Energy Less refrigerator offers a beacon of hope and innovation in regions where electricity is a luxury, proving that sustainable practices can profoundly affect daily life and environmental health.

A meatless hamburger, milkless milk, and soon, coffeeless coffee

Two billion cups of coffee are drunk in the world every day but, according to analysts, our production will soon no longer be enough. This is why many companies are experimenting in the laboratory with coffee that does not contain coffee

Amidst a growing consciousness about the environmental and social catastrophes behind daily staples like our morning cup of coffee—from worker exploitation to deforestation—there is an increasing realization that we might soon need to seek alternatives.

As pointed out by analysts in the Wall Street Journal, we might need to get used to synthetic or artificial replacements due to a perfect storm of land shortage and soaring prices. Coffee prices, along with those of cocoa, have hit record highs and could climb even further.

WTJ analysis

The global consumption of coffee is a significant social and environmental issue. For instance, an average Arabica tree can only produce about one to two kilograms of coffee per year. The relentless demand has led to massive deforestation, starvation wages for farmers, and significant carbon emissions from production and lengthy supply chains.

The figures are staggering: by 2050, climate change is projected to render about half of the land currently used for coffee cultivation unsuitable. In response, at least half a dozen companies are turning to biotechnology and food science to replace coffee in our cups with something less harmful and less vulnerable to climate changes, creating synthetic coffees using a variety of ingredients, including chickpeas and recycled agricultural waste like date pits.

Others are using cells cultivated in labs from actual coffee plants. Companies like Voyage Foods, Minus Coffee, Atomo, Prefer, Stem, and Northern Wonder have begun selling or are developing these coffee alternatives without beans.

The bioreactors

NASA has proposed using bioreactors—steel containers used for producing pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food additives—to grow food for space stations and lunar bases. In 2021, Heiko Rischer, head of plant biotechnology at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, demonstrated that it’s possible to grow coffee plant cells in a bioreactor. The resulting powder, once roasted, retains many of coffee’s characteristics. Researchers are also working on a similar process to grow cacao plant cells that contribute to chocolate’s distinctive flavor.

While there’s no limit to which plant cells can be grown in bioreactors, the price is not yet competitive with real coffee. Although Rischer’s team has grown enough coffee cells in bioreactors to create a substance resembling the real thing, it’s unclear when the process will be scaled up enough to make lab-grown cacao and coffee competitive.

In the future, the biggest competitor to beanless coffee will likely be traditional coffee, potentially altered and grown in biomes that could become more hospitable as the planet warms.

Synthetic coffee, however, could face the same environmental issues as much of today’s coffee, in terms of land use and emissions from transporting beans. So, would you drink it?