Off-grid modular cold rooms and pre-coolers for remote and dry areas in Ethiopia

适用于埃塞俄比亚偏远和干燥地区的离网模块化冷室和预冷器

• 批准号: 10040674
• 金额: $ 29.94万
• 依托单位: ASTON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10040674
• 关键词: Off; grid; modular; cold; rooms

The lack of sustainable cooling in Ethiopia is an unresolved challenge, leading to 30-50% of food waste, which amounts to a $4.3 billion loss annually. It precludes most farmers from achieving the desired profits through sales volume for their temperature-sensitive foodstuff. Such a challenge primarily impacts smallholder and women farmers, who produce 90% of fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia.Evaporative cooling is widespread in dry climates and uncomplicated technology. However, it does not sufficiently prolong temperature-sensitive crops' shelf-life to reach central markets. Neither does it control the cold room's humidity and temperature to the desired conditions. Additionally, cooling practices are often rendered ineffective by the lack of secure electricity in Ethiopia, a problem common to most of sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the grid electricity coverage in Ethiopia is 36%, mostly in central cities, while 78% of the population lives in rural locations.The sustainable cooling challenge is made more pressing as recently a market has emerged for secondhand refrigerators, utilising environmentally harmful substances decommissioned from Europe. Such units are driven via grid electricity or PV panels of sizeable electric batteries and are typically based in central food markets. These inefficient refrigeration units are environmentally harmful and compromise the route towards SDG-7 "Climate action.In this project, we seek to resolve the sustainable cooling challenge by applying innovative technology to evaporative cooling, operating it at a low cost via renewable energies. The project will:1. Utilise a green refrigeration technology driven by solar heat to achieve the desired cooling conditions.2. Utilise an eco-friendly hybrid PV/vertical axis wind turbine by the investor (Kinder Energy) to maintain the system's operation via small electric batteries. We will install a demonstrator prototype in Ethiopia.3. Store the heat in the soil to affordably maintain the operation of the solar-thermal-driven refrigeration technology.4. Develop sustainable business models to enable the uptake of the technology.5. Develop a techno-economic model for the technology for community use via, for example, a pay-as-you-go scheme.The developed system will secure the cooling and enable smallholder and women farmers to increase sales volume at desired prices, minimising food wastage. It will promote sustainable economic growth and encourage the technology developer (Kinder Energy) to create jobs and empower women farmers. The project will provide economically viable, scalable alternatives to the harmful secondhand refrigeration system market.

埃塞俄比亚缺乏可持续冷却是一个尚未解决的挑战，导致30-50%的食物浪费，每年损失43亿美元。它使大多数农民无法通过销售量来获得对温度敏感的食品的预期利润。这种挑战主要影响到小农和女性农民，他们生产了埃塞俄比亚90%的水果和蔬菜。蒸发冷却在干燥的气候和不复杂的技术中广泛应用。然而，这并不足以延长对温度敏感的作物的保质期，使其无法进入中央市场。它也不能将冷藏室的湿度和温度控制在所需的条件下。此外，由于埃塞俄比亚缺乏安全的电力供应，冷却措施往往无效，这是撒哈拉以南非洲大多数国家的共同问题。目前，埃塞俄比亚的电网覆盖率为36%，主要集中在中心城市，而78%的人口生活在农村地区。最近出现了二手冰箱市场，使用从欧洲退役的环境有害物质，可持续制冷的挑战变得更加紧迫。这些单位通过电网电力或大型电池的光伏板驱动，通常设在中央粮食市场。这些效率低下的制冷机组对环境有害，并损害了实现可持续发展目标7“气候行动”的途径。在这个项目中，我们试图通过将创新技术应用于蒸发冷却，并通过可再生能源以低成本运行，来解决可持续冷却的挑战。该项目将：1。利用太阳能驱动的绿色制冷技术，实现理想的制冷条件。2.由投资者（金德能源公司）使用一个环保的混合光伏/垂直轴风力涡轮机，通过小型电池维持系统的运行。我们将在埃塞俄比亚安装一个演示样机。将热量储存在土壤中，以维持太阳能热驱动制冷技术的运行.发展可持续的商业模式，使技术的吸收。5.开发一种技术经济模式，例如通过现收现付计划，供社区使用。开发的系统将确保冷却，并使小农和女性农民能够以理想的价格增加销售量，最大限度地减少粮食浪费。它将促进可持续经济增长，鼓励技术开发商（金德能源公司）创造就业机会，增强女农民的权能。该项目将为有害的二手制冷系统市场提供经济上可行、可扩展的替代品。