Solar fridges designed for medical use help save lives in remote villages
Solar fridges a lifesaver for the powerless
Imagine life without a refrigerator. It's such an accepted norm for us, but for a large portion of the world the ability to keep anything fresh for days at a time is beyond reach.
The International Energy Agency and World Bank report that 1.2 billion people around the world live off-grid, where the only likely source of electricity is from diesel-powered generators that are dirty, unreliable and increasingly expensive to run.
It's all about educating people on how to use the solar power they have for things they truly need it for
Dulas, a renewable energy technology company based in Machynlleth, Wales, has a solution. Its VC-150-2, VC-65-2 and VC-200-1 chest fridges - all powered by solar panels - are designed specifically to store vaccines and can work for five days without any kind of charge.
"They're all specifically manufactured for the safe storage of vaccines," says Catherine McLennan, a customer sales and marketing executive at Dulas.
McLennan says the fridges are used for many polio immunisation campaigns, mostly in Africa. "We provide a complete a complete stand-alone fridge system and they're expected to last as long as a domestic refrigerator, around 10 years, and they don't need any electricity from the grid."
Dulas, an ethically driven co-operative owned by its employees, supplies the fridges as a kit with solar panels, battery, charge controller and all cables and accessories.
Designed to work in up to 43 degrees Celsius ambient temperatures, the three solar fridges are found worldwide, usually as part of a vaccine drive by NGOs and humanitarian organisations such as Unicef, Goal, Save the Children and Merlin. Countries with life-saving projects featuring a solar fridge range from Peru and across sub-Saharan Africa to Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia and remote Pacific islands such as Vanuatu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.