THE ISSUE
Heat. The oppressive sun, day in, day out. The people of Lobitos and Piedritas are locked in a constant struggle to stay cool. The lack of building codes means that houses are often built without considering cooling mechanisms, and the intense heat of the day causes high temperatures inside. Air conditioning units are too costly for most residents, and fans are often not enough to alleviate the heat, meaning residents must rest during the middle of the day when the heat is at its worst. The use of fans causes a significant increase in a household’s energy bill, bolstering energy expenses to 15-25% of residents’ income. Moreover, in Lobitos and Piedritas, 15% of the population do not have access to electricity at all, and the grid is so unreliable that outages are commonplace.
OUR SOLUTION
The Passive Cooling Tower. A semi-permanent and affordable structure that efficiently funnels wind through a window, using the area’s average windspeed of 18 kilometre per hour to circulate air within each house. It can be assembled and dismantled in under 10 minutes and functions without the need for electricity. The tower requires very little initial investment, is easily maintainable by people with no technical knowledge, and functions independently from the current energy infrastructure and grid. This means locals can keep their houses cool during the frequent power outages, while also lowering their household’s energy requirements and electricity bills. The Passive Cooling Tower is a realistic and implementable solution to one of the most fundamental challenges faced by the people of Lobitos and Piedritas – keeping cool.
TEAM:
@Lydia Broadley
@Michael McDonald
@Louis Williams
@Josh Cooke
@Grace Hopkins
⚡️🌎🏠
Scalable, 1/10th of the cost of normal AC, semi-permanent, renewable and carbon neutral, and capable of making millions of lives better - this is winning design
An elegantly simple, cost effective and carbon neutral solution to cooling.
A good project, environmentally and economically sound and which should benefit many.
This is clearly a very clever and also very caring design idea and I wish you all the best with it‘s success!
Dr David Lewis
A valuable contribution offering a simple and cost effective solution to a genuine issue of overheating. It could improve the living standards of many. I would vote for it as a contender.
This sounds like a super product. As the trustee of a charity in Malawi, I am very interested to tract it’s progress and vote for it to be considered as a real contender.