Mohammed Bah Abba And His Pot-in-Pot
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 4.06
So what’s modern+green about a couple of terracotta pots? Nothing and everything. The oldest known African earthenware has been found in Nigeria, so that ain’t exactly new. What does brings it up-to-date is the incredibly simple application of two pots, one inside another. Fill the space between the two with moist sand, and you have a most ingenious fridge. (That’s very modern if you live in one of the 90% of villages that don’t have electricity.) The water in the sand naturally migrates towards the outer pot, where it evaporates causing a temperature drop around the inner pot.* The principle is not new - we’ve mentioned the coolgardie safe before, as just one such rendering on the concept. No, what is remarkable here is that Nigerian teacher, Mohammed Bah Abba, did not merely reinvent the idea, he made it a reality for tens of thousands of impoverished Nigerian women and farmers. By setting up the local production facilities to provide the pot-in-pot for $2 (since lowered to just 40c), he allowed perishable food to extend their spoilage rate. “Eggplants, for example, stayed fresh for 27 days instead of three, and tomatoes and peppers lasted for three weeks or more. African spinach, which usually spoils after a day, remained edible after 12 days in the pot-in-pot.”
Being able to store crops, and family food, without need of electricity increased incomes and reduced levels of disease. In recognition for his part in bringing this amazing technology to people in need, Mohammed was awarded a $75,000 Rolex Award. Having funded the first 7,000 pots from his own purse, he now used the award funds to distribute a total of 91,795 pot-in-pots by 2005.
It was a simple idea, but one with massive repercussions. For example, young women who had to hawk food before it perished, now have the opportunity to attend school and gain an education. The downstream results of which are simply immeasurable. Mohammed has also been asked to consider “adapting his cooling device in Eritrea, where it could preserve insulin vials for diabetic patients in remote rural areas, India, Haiti and Honduras.” And he has been requested to facilitate workshops in Brazil. Already the pots performance has seen the Darfur’s Women’s Association for Earthenware Manufacturing produce their own version, known as a zeer pot, with resulting incomes for women increasing by 50%. So well worthy of being listed a Time magazine Invention of the Year (2001). Oh, and The Shell Award for Sustainable Development too.
As we keep saying around here, never believe that myth that one person cannot make a difference. We all affect the whole around us, Mohammed is but one example of how positive that change can be.
* Garrett Rueda, a student in California scientifically tested (PDF) the system, and found that the average temperature difference between the pots was a very significant 14°C (23.5°F) !
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Spaces NY - where eco entrepreneurs get down to business.
- Revolution Organics Makes Multi-Tasking Cosmetics
- Space Stations Were Always So Green
- GreenBuild: Richard Moe Has a Tough Row to Hoe
Now this is what I'm talking about, but what's this $75,000? Think of all the positive change that could be effected if this guy got some funding! Somebody needs to give this man, say, $5 million in venture capital, start up a factory providing local craftsmen with a decent wage and diving the consumer price down with economies of scale, plow profits back into R&D of bigger, better, and more efficient models, and there you have an effective win-win-win-win scenario. I WISH I had the funds.
This is extremely cool!
incredible
I could see this replacing cube fridges in the developed world. A lot cheaper, and doesn't use any electricity. The water only needs to be replenished every so often. To dampen use of water, it would be cool to have a greywater collection system where greywater would be filtered and used to moisten the sand.
Here's another idea. Would there be any way to make a larger version of this that could also make use of an energy-efficient electrical system inside of this existing invention to increase the abilities of it? I realize the best part of this would be that it doesn't require electricity; however, if one could be invented that used only a small amount of electricity but was much larger this technology could be used in places where a solar rig and battery could assist. Any thoughts?
A 40c fridge. That is truly ingenious. He should be nominated for a nobel peace prize for that.
I wish I could see a diagram of this. It seems simple to get a large earthen pot at the garden store, plus some big kettles and have one that could handle some eggs, cheese, soymilk, and left overs. Possibly a second one for produce. I'd like to boot my big energy-hog refrigerator for sure. Sounds like it would be attractive too. Freezer stuff would be out, but oh well.
I love these simple but very effective systems.
Would anyone know how this Pot-pot system work in a more humid environment. For example in a South East Asian country?
wow!!u r a genius!!!simply wonderful!!!!!
Ah !! I remember my grandma using these pots when I was young. It was so familiar in Indian villages. I wonder why they stopped using that.
I've been searching on the web and came across a similar fridge by Emily Cummins http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/independentbosch-competition-how-to-engineer-green-solutions-955006.html Her award-winning design claims it can get the temperature inside to as low as 7 degrees Celsius, using a similar concept.
She is using two aluminium cylinders (the outer one is perforated) with damp wool as the insulation. I thought using aluminium as the outer container would lessen the cooling effect as opposed to the clay pot? Does anyone know why it works better than this pot-in-pot cooler?
To use this in the developed world, it would be really interesting, just there is the hygiene issue of using damp sand (it can develop mould?) and also, the hassle of watering it twice a day. If anyone has more information on this please reply! Thanks a lot :)
Inspiring. I wish him the best of luck with his future projects and wish to get involved.
keep it up bro, its a revolutionary feat.