After visiting a remote village in the Moroccan region of Khenifra, Rawya Lamhar, a senior year student in environmental engineering, realized that people suffering from illnesses such as diabetes had nowhere cool to conserve their medicines.
She also observed that people living in mountain villages had challenges with conserving their vegetables as well due to the lack of electricity.
The above factors influenced Lamhar and her colleagues to come up with the clay fridge, a product capable of conserving foods and medicines without electricity.
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The ecological fridge can maintain a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius in dry areas and 12 degrees Celsius in humid areas, according to Moroccan media.
Lamhar and her colleagues are saving lives in Morocco — Morocco World News
The fridge, in order to work, must be kept in an airy area, far from other objects, and away from the wall or ground. Hence, it is kept on another pedestal made of clay.
The storage tool gives the user the ability to preserve food products for around 10 to 15 days, depending on the conditions.
This invention, which was first introduced in 2015, has since come in handy to locals, especially those living in remote areas without electricity.
Women say that they are able to cut down on their expenses, and also have access to a much more diverse food supply.
For those with diabetes, the clay fridge couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time, as their medicine, insulin, becomes ineffective when not stored in the right conditions.
Lamhar and her colleagues, right after their clay fridge, created Go Energyless, an enterprise to promote their ancient cooling invention.
They have since been able to build a production studio near Marrakech, where they produce clay fridges priced at 220 ($24) and 500 dirhams ($55).
The team has since received orders from the United States, Europe and Singapore, with team members hoping to reach a wider audience in subsequent years.
