As booming world demand pushes up energy prices and the effects of global warming become starker, the benefits of a solar powered refrigerator have never been clearer.
Environmental issues linked to the impending exhaustion of fossil fuels will force us all to begin looking at renewable and eco-friendly solutions to problems. One of these is to take advantage of the benefits of a solar powered refrigerator. It is only by doing so that we can hope to tackle the looming crises of energy shortages and global warming.
As its name suggests, a solar powered refrigerator uses solar energy for cooling purposes. The benefits of a solar powered refrigerator are not just related to price but cover a host of other factors as well.
From an environmental perspective, one of the main benefits of a solar powered refrigerator is that they will help to combat global warming because unlike normal refrigerators they are not powered by electricity from the mains grid which has been generated in a power station, often via the burning of fossil fuels.
Another of the benefits of a solar powered refrigerator is that they can play a part in avoiding an energy crisis. As already mentioned, normal electric refrigerators use a lot of energy but a solar powered one keeps itself cool solely by using the plentiful energy of the Sun’s rays.
The benefits of a solar powered refrigerator are especially useful in tropical countries where the direct glare of the Sun’s rays mean they are very efficient. Some solar powered refrigerators have huge capacities and they are already being used on a large scale in Africa.
So what is the technological basis of the benefits of a solar powered refrigerator?
The solar powered refrigerator is based on the twin principles of conduction and convection. It doesn’t need an electrical supply and uses a completely different cooling method to the one in a conventional refrigerator. The cooling system consists of two cylinders inside one another that can be made out of materials including wood, cardboard or metal.
Another of the benefits of a solar powered refrigerator is that they are very portable.