Low-tek Fridge
Hinterlands.cc
writes about Mohammed Bah Abba shows off fridge he developed by nesting two clay pots, then filling the space between with water. The water seeps through the outer pot, then evaporates. The evaporation of the water lowers the overall temp of the pot system (because the water vapor takes on energy as it moves from liquid to gas [see, I did learn something from that two years as a geological engineering major]).
This isn't a completely unique invention--cycling suppliers sell water bottles that work on the same principle. But I haven't yet seen it applied to low-tech food preservation in places such as northern Nigeria, Mohammed's homeland. And apparently neither had the
Rolex Awards organization, who gave Mohammed a $100K prize for the invention (check the Rolex link for other cool innovations along the same lines).
Even cooler (no pun intended) than the direct benefits of food preservation are the second order cultural effects. As Hinterlands notes,
So, instead of perishable foods rotting after only three days, they can last up to three weeks. Obviously, this has the potential to change their lives. And it already has -- there are more girls attending school, for example, as their families no longer need them to sell food in the market.
This is a great example of how technologies beget effects they were never intended to cause. Technological development only seems cause and effect if (a) you're naive, or (b) you revise history. See
James Burke's work that draws connections among seemingly disparate inventions and developments.
(There are a host of social and technical theorists who have long drawn these connections, but few are better than Burke at making those connections clear.)
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Posted by johndan at March 22, 2004 03:36 PM
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