You feel like a pat of butter in a frying-pan that’s melting altogether. The sun is at full blast today and you wish someone would be kind enough to turn it down. A lone drop of sweat trickled down your cheek, licking at your neck before making its way to your collarbone, leaving a trail of temporary coolness in its wake.
You want your chilling machine. No, you need it.
It is ubiquitous, whirring in homes, offices, malls, schools, automobiles, wooing the sweaty mortals with the promise of chilled respite.
Except it isn’t. At least not in developing countries like Bangladesh.
Beating the heat
More than 70 percent of Bangladesh’s residents live in corrugated tin huts which amplify the sun’s energy. When summer is in full swing, the scorching temperatures can hit as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). And with constraints in electric power, air conditioning is simply not an option.
But when the constant lust for coolness hooks up with some laudable cleverness, an out-of-the-box solution is born: the Eco Cooler.
This DIY device is simple, cheap and efficient — requiring zero electricity. Plastic bottles are cut in half, mount on a sturdy board and place over a window with the wider part of the bottles facing outwards.
Think of it as blowing air out from your mouth wide open onto your palm. Now with your lips pursed, do it again. Based on the Venturi Effect, the drop in pressure results in an increase in velocity — creating a cooling effect.
Grey Group, an advertising agency that is leading the project, teaming up with Grameen Intel Social Business, have brought the Eco Cooler to more than 25,000 households in Bangladesh since February this year. The cooler is reported to reduce the indoor temperatures as much as 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), which is on par with what an electrical air conditioner can do.
In a country where access to electricity in rural areas is limited, the Eco Cooler can be considered as something of a godsend.
Watch the video below:
