Eco Factor: Portable fridge doesn’t require electricity and works on evaporation method. Emily Cummins is just a 21, but her innovation is much bigger compared to her age. She is a university student, and while working on her project she ended up with portable solar-powered fridge made up of household items. All this took place in her grandfather’s potting shed. The portable eco-fridge can keep goods, such as milk or meat, cool for days at a temperature of around 6C. The fridge contains two cylinders in such a way that one lies inside the other and works through evaporation. Emily used metal for the inner cylinder, but she claims that other materials like plastic and wood can replace the metal part. The space between the two cylinders is filled with material like sand and wool capable of soaking water. When the wet material is heated by the sun’s rays, it evaporates and the heat is removed from the inner chamber. Now Emily is looking to improve the model further so that it can become useful in the transportation of medical goods in hot regions. This is not her first triumph. She has already been awarded for her toothpaste squeezer for arthritis and for water-carrying devices. This innovation can further prove to be a blessing to the poverty stricken population of Africa. 
The Dark Side: This simple innovation is appreciable in all aspects. However, the evaporation method can provide a limited cooling as compared to electric refrigerators and this might make it unsuitable for a few materials that demand much lower temperatures to sustain. Furthermore, for a sophisticated model, some work is still needed. 
Via: DailyMail
