This is a cool little gadget with an even cooler name: the Wakati uses solar power to keep food fresh for up to a week in places where refrigeration isn’t easily accessible.
In many developing countries food expires quickly in transit and storage. This Belgium-based startup, also called Wakati (it means “time” in Swahili), has developed a solar-powered food humidifier for these situations, according to Fast Company. The device, which works like traditional evaporation coolers, helps food retain humidity to keep it fresh up to 10 times longer than if it were left alone.
“I decided to run an experiment: I would try to preserve fruit and vegetables in a hot, extremely humid microclimate,” designer and founder of Wakati Arne Pauwels says. “I took a waste paper basket, placed an evaporator in it with some crops of lettuce inside and outside, heated the room to over 86 degrees, and waited a couple of days. To my surprise, the crops inside the paper basket looked fine, but the ones outside were completely wilted.”
The Wakati consists of a tent-like structure and the solar-powered evaporator inside. Pauwels admits it’s no industrial fridge, but for a fraction of the cost, it allows people to better preserve and transport their food.
The unit costs about $100, but the best part is this: Wakati is working with a 3D-printing company to make prototypes to test in Haiti, Uganda and Afghanistan.
We can’t help but think the lightweight device could be handy in the Western world, too, especially for hiking, camping and boating enthusiasts. Goodbye, heavy Coleman, hello Wakati.
