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An affordable, solar-powered induction cooker
CategoriesSustainable News

An affordable, solar-powered induction cooker

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: As of 2022, only around 31 per cent of people in Uganda had access to grid electricity. Without a stable electricity connection, it’s harder to access essential appliances, such as cookers. And, non-electric alternatives like burning logs or coal to cook food are generally highly polluting and emissions-intensive. To provide a clean cooking option for those not connected to the grid, Paul Soddo, along with other researchers from Makerere University and Intellisys, developed a solar-powered induction hob and oven called the MakSol Cooker. 

The Cooker itself is powered by a roof-mounted solar panel that charges a deep-cycle battery. The device can function for up to six hours, or until the device reaches 20 per cent charge, with the management system automatically charging when the sun is up, and saving essential reserve power when it’s dark. With the control panel, users can easily turn the device on and off and tailor their desired heat. 

Where the MakSol Cooker differs from other solar-powered cooking units is the affordability – its price is $150 (around €137), which is far lower than competitors.  

The next step for Soddo is to improve the device further. Specifically, the team is looking to use the magnetic coil to double the MakSol’s cooking power and allow food to be ready in half the time. 

Cooking is an essential task, but clean cooking devices aren’t universal. Luckily, there are alternatives out there, including safe cookstoves in Sierra Leone and East Africa. 

Written By: Archie Cox 

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Solar-powered cooling for East Africa’s livestock industry 
CategoriesSustainable News

Solar-powered cooling for East Africa’s livestock industry 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Kenya has a thriving livestock industry that employs half of all agricultural workers in the country. But gaps in the cold chain contribute to large volumes of food being wasted, with Sub-Saharan Africa losing 36 per cent of all food post-harvest, and 94 per cent of that figure being caused by inefficiencies across the supply chain. With the goal of finding a way to reduce waste and improve income for local communities, Kenya-based company Baridi has created a means of using Africa’s sunshine to preserve meats.  

The startup’s solar-powered cooling solutions keep fresh meats cold or frozen, and the solar chillers come in three different sizes: a ‘Nano’, ‘Mini’, or ‘Mega’. The Nano is 10 square feet, while the Mini is 20 square feet and the Mega 40 square feet.  

Mindful of the range of sizes of operations run by farmers and distributors, Baridi makes it possible to buy or rent a unit via a leasing agreement. And as part of founder Tracy Kimathi’s work to involve more women in the country’s meat supply chain system and boost economic opportunities for families, Baridi also offers a pay-as-you-store model for smallholder farmers and smaller distributors. 

Each solar-powered unit the company installs reduces annual meat spoilage by more than 290,000 kilogrammes and decreases public market losses by up to 15 per cent. The units are Internet-of-Things- (IoT) enabled to allow remote monitoring of temperatures and humidity, as well as door openings. Baridi plans to install more than 60 of the cooling units within the next five years at locations across the country.  

As temperatures rise around the world, refrigeration becomes even more important to the healthcare and food supply chains that crisscross the globe. From creating ways to store vaccinations and other medicines as solids to portable, solar-powered refrigerators, innovations in the Springwise database showcase the importance of bringing sustainable cooling solutions to communities everywhere.

Written By: Keely Khoury

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Solar-powered street carts for food vendors
CategoriesSustainable News

Solar-powered street carts for food vendors

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Street vendors are a big part of Kenyan culture and a significant source of livelihood for many Kenyans, particularly in the capital, Nairobi. But, for some 100,000 street food vendors in the city, it can be both economically challenging and environmentally damaging to keep food at the right temperature. Many vendors rely on charcoal, which releases high levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and pollutants.

Instead, Nairobi-based startup Zuhura Solutions has introduced the Halisi Trolley, a solar-powered vending car that allows food to be kept warm for longer using an alternative, clean energy source.  

The stored solar energy is converted into heat that freely warms the food to ensure it’s kept at the necessary temperature for safe eating. Surplus energy that is generated powers LED lights, so vendors can sell them for hours into the night. There are also charging ports that can be used to power customers’ mobile phones at an extra cost – allowing vendors to easily earn additional income. 

Zuhura sells adverting space on the carts to fund its production and subsidised the final cost for vendors. The startup only uses durable, high-quality materials to create the carts, which are available in customised or modular versions, or can be sold in bulk.  

The startup offers vendors a flexible pay-as-you-go plan of $80 (around €73) a month with a 10 per cent initial down payment. Zuhura also connects vendors with technicians who can quickly service their trolleys in the event of a malfunction. 

Food insecurity is a growing concern, particularly for areas without the infrastructure to store produce safely. Springwise has spotted many innovations working to ease this pressure, including a solar-powered refrigerator to cut food spoilage for fishermen and farmers, and another sustainable refrigeration unit that can generate continuous refrigeration for up to four days.

Written By: Anam Alam

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A solar-powered tourist catamaran – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

A solar-powered tourist catamaran – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Rivers are some of the most idyllic, and valuable, natural environments on earth, and this beauty naturally attracts the attention of tourists. While river tourism bolsters local economies and creates an incentive to preserve natural waterways, traditional fossil fuel tourist vessels create emissions of carbon dioxide and air pollutants. Moreover, gas or oil leaks from motorboats and sailboats with engines can contaminate water. And from the tourists’ own point of view, the peace and tranquillity of a river scene is often soured by the noise and vibrations of a chugging engine. But what if there was a way to address these problems?

Croatia has some of the most beautiful rivers and lakes in Europe, and Croatian startup iCat has developed a solar-powered passenger catamaran that enables tourists, and others, to enjoy the scenery in a more sustainable way. The 15-metre, 54-passenger vessel—called the solarCat—comes with an integrated solar power station that allows it to run on its own self-generated energy. Not only does this lead to zero emissions, it also significantly reduces the amount of noise the catamaran generates. In fact, iCat claims that “the only noise and vibrations will come from the wind and waves.”

The vessel’s modular deck can be adapted to various needs in just 30 minutes – from educational events, concerts, and VIP parties to simple passenger transport. The catamaran’s wheelhouse is also made of glass and is situated to the right side of the bow. According to the company this creates “a sense of transparency, thus eliminating visual barriers for the passengers.”

The solarCat was first presented on Zagreb’s Lake Jarun two years ago and is already in use in Croatia for tourism purposes.

Springwise has previously spotted several sustainable boating innovations, including an electric boat powered by a single battery, and a Seine riverboat powered by old EV batteries.

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

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A solar-powered weed-seeking robot – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

A solar-powered weed-seeking robot – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted:  Pesticides are widely used in agriculture in order to protect crops from pests and diseases. However, even at levels deemed safe by regulators, pesticides can have a negative impact on the environment. Studies have shown that pesticides can cause a loss of biodiversity, including reduced numbers of beneficial insects, as well as birds, and amphibians. In addition, pesticides can contaminate soil and water, and may also pose a risk to human health. As a result, there is an increasing focus on finding ways to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture. One promising approach is the use of robotics, as they can be used to target pests more accurately, which in turn reduces the amount of pesticide required. Among the companies working on this is Solinftec, a company that recently developed a robot that can provide autonomous and sustainable spot-spray applications on growers’ fields.  

Solinftec partnered with McKinney Corporation to introduce the new Solix Sprayer robot. This technology has the potential to help producers reduce chemical inputs and deliver a lower carbon footprint. In addition, the robot provides reports on crop populations, weed densities, disease and insect identification, nutrient deficiency identification as well as other layers of data maps for analysis. And best of all, all of this activity is powered by four solar panels.

“Weed detection is a leading issue in fields across the North America and the Solix Sprayer is designed to not only monitor and scan fields like the original scouting version, but detect and manage weeds with technology which allows the device to spot-spray into the plant instead of from above, eliminating drift and soil compaction caused by larger machines and help lower environmental impact,” explains Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s director of operations.

Solix is currently piloting the robot in North America in partnership with the agricultural co-operative GROWMARK and Purdue University in the US, and Stone Farms and University of Saskatchewan in Canada. The technology is simulated to become commercially available to the entire agricultural market in 2023.

As the world population continues to grow, it is essential that we find ways to sustainably increase food production. Other similar innovations spotted by Springwise include a new way to produce sustainable fertiliser on site and a biohacking method that protects crops against fungal attack. 

Written By: Katrina Lane

Reference

Solar-powered water pumps and fishing lights 
CategoriesSustainable News

Solar-powered water pumps and fishing lights 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Agriculture accounts for around 30 per cent of Tanzania’s GDP, and the country’s government is in the process of redirecting the farming sector towards a more sustainable and productive pathway.

Helping with this transition is Simusolar, a cleantech startup that is a leading provider of solar-powered water pumps and fishing lights in rural East Africa.

Only 3 per cent of Tanzanian farmers currently have access to irrigation technology, and most of them still use diesel pumps. Simusolar’s affordable solar-powered pumps enable farmers to increase their crop yields while using less water and fuel. In addition, the pumps reduce carbon emissions and pollution from diesel generators.

Meanwhile, Simusolar’s fishing lights replace the polluting kerosene lamps commonly used by Tanzanian fishermen. The solar-powered LEDs are as bright as a kerosene lamp, work under all weather conditions, and incur no fuel or maintenance costs.

Last year, Simusolar received €1.26 million from EDFI ElectriFI, the EU-funded electrification financing initiative. With this funding, the company intends to expand its product portfolio to create a mix of productive equipment solutions and services adapted to farmers’ needs.

Other off-grid solar energy solutions recently spotted by Springwise include a plug-and-play solar energy system for swarm electrification, a solar-powered off-grid desalination system, and solar-powered refrigerators to cut food spoilage in developing countries.

Written By: Katrina Lane

24th June 2022

Website: simusolar.com

Contact: simusolar.com/contact

Reference

India’s first full-time solar-powered town
CategoriesSustainable News

India’s first full-time solar-powered town

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Solar power is the world’s fastest-growing form of renewable energy. According to industry advocacy group SolarPower Europe, global solar capacity doubled in the three years from 2018, bringing the world’s solar capacity to one Terawatt in April 2022. While solar power has been slow to see growth in India, a new project in the town of Modhera in Gujarat state may help to change that.

Modhera is the first town in India to run off solar power 24/7. The plan to turn the town fully solar got its start in 2020, when the national government Ministry of New and Renewable Energy put out a tender for the Scheme – a pilot demonstration project intended to show that it was possible to run a small village or town (Modhera has 1400 residents) entirely on solar power.

The tender was to construct a solar photovoltaic power plant, a battery energy storage system, 271 rooftop solar arrays, smart meters, and electric vehicle charging equipment. Renewable energy digital services company GreenPowerMonitor was appointed to supply integrated onsite control, monitoring, data management, and display solutions for the hybrid power plant while Italian solar inverter manufacturer FIMER supplied six power conversion units.

GreenPowerMonitor’s power plant controller and energy management systems allow the batteries and other components to balance the power and storage needs to supply power to the town round the clock – without the need for other power sources. The hope is that this scheme will demonstrate the feasibility of installing similar systems in other rural areas. According to GreenPowerMonitor, “Combining solar PV and batteries in a hybrid project is challenging, but opens a wide range of possibilities to provide 100 percent renewable and clean energy to local communities…we hope that this becomes a standard solution and a benchmark in the renewable energy industry.” 

There is no shortage of ideas for using solar power to provide electrification to rural or off-grid areas. Springwise has recently covered a number of these, including a solar refrigerator that brings both cooling and power to off-grid communities and a school on wheels that uses solar power to bring education to remote areas in Uzbekistan. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

17th June 2022

Website: greenpowermonitor.com

Contact: greenpowermonitor.com/contact

Reference

Solar-powered tuk-tuks could be coming to a city near you
CategoriesSustainable News

Solar-powered tuk-tuks could be coming to a city near you

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Increasingly, those interested in city planning and energy saving have been pointing out that it just doesn’t make sense to transport people or smaller amounts of goods around urban areas in traditional vehicles – even electric vehicles (EVs). Cars are large, heavy, and energy-intensive. Now, startup Infinite Mobility has developed an alternative – a solar-powered tuk-tuk designed for last-mile deliveries, or to efficiently carry just one or two people.

The company’s streamlined solar tricycles incorporate solar cells into the vehicle’s body. The diminutive size of the vehicles means they are cheaper to produce and buy than a four-wheeled vehicle. According to the company, six square metres of solar cells cost around $300 (around €284), and will produce up to 604 kilowatt-hours a year of power for the vehicle. At 60 watts per kilometre, the tricycles can travel up to 10,000 kilometres per year on solar energy alone – enough for the average urban user.

Infinite Mobility also points out that the tuk-tuks don’t need recharging from the grid, eliminating one annoyance of EV ownership. And there is another benefit – depending on where they’re based, many micro-mobility vehicles sales are now supported by subsidies from local, regional, or national governments.

Lupi Love, Infinite Mobility’s CEO, explains other benefits of micro-mobility solutions. “Micro-mobility vehicles are agile, can use cycle lanes, take shortcuts and park with ease. Meanwhile, traditional vehicles spent three times as long stuck in traffic and drive around looking for parking spaces. Whilst micro-mobility hardly needed to walk at all – having parked just outside the door, traditional vehicles drivers walked approximately a third of their total distance.”

While EVs have been getting all of the attention lately, solar-powered vehicles are definitely coming. We have seen this with innovations such as Squad Mobility’s solar microcars, a solar-powered mobility scooter, and even a parking garage powered by solar panels. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

28th April 2022

Email: ll@infinite-m.com

Website: infinite-m.com

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