This is the story of a clay fridge that does not require any source of energy to provide its users with refrigerated foodstuffs in an area of Morocco where 45% of rural areas have no access to electricity.
“In the desert, you can always come across an oasis” (Fatou Diome)
Whilst visiting the south of the country, near the Sahara, Raowia Lamhar, a 24-year-old engineer, met a young diabetic named Ahmed. To prevent the heat damaging his insulin, he buries it in the sand and soaks it in water to keep it cool.
Fresh’it, the low-tech fridge that operates without electricity
For Raowia it’s the discovery of an ancestral conservation system and the trigger for the creation of Fresh’it, a low-tech, ecological and very inexpensive clay fridge, which does not require electricity to run. This desert fridge comprises two clay pots of different sizes, which are interlinked yet separated by sand that is kept wet. As it evaporates, the water dissipates the heat and cools the fridge, whose temperature falls to below 10 degrees Celsius! The hotter the weather, the more the water evaporates and the more efficient the fridge. The only constraint is that the sand needs to be sprinkled with water daily. And though Fresh’it is used in rural regions, it is also useful in towns, as it helps to keep fruit and vegetables more effectively and for longer than an electric fridge.
