The Blue Economy NEWS 33

Dear Reader,

our economic alliance is increasingly gaining importance. Last week we were at the TBLI (Triple Bottom Line Investing) Conference in London to present NExT Social Stock Exchange and Blue Economy projects. Besides an exciting exchange with various players, several private and institutional investors have already contacted us voicing interest in Blue Economy innovations, who are now reviewing possible investments.

Again more power for members of the Blue Economy Alliance to implement concrete projects.

How could you keep food cool in remote areas of the Third World? Refrigerators keep food and medicine fresh for a much longer time than at ambient temperature, but they depend on a functioning grid connection. On the other hand, Photovoltaics is extremely expensive. This is why refrigerators in the Third World are still reserved to urban areas and more or less prosperous households.

Emily Cummins, a British Student, has built a refrigerator in a simple but ingenious way: It consists of two cylinders one inside the other, some filling material to fill the space between the inner and outer cylinder, and Water, not necessarily drinking water. If this devices is heated by the sun, then the water evaporates and cools down the inner cylinder, without any chemistry nor electricity. All building materials are available at any place of the world – a prime example for the principles of the Blue Economy.

A disadvantage of this refrigerator is that it only works with sufficient sunshine. This problem could be solved by integrating the light-based heaters developed at Las Gaviotas (see Case 15) into the construction. Visionaries ahead: Who will take the challenge?