Show ‘real people’ not staged photo-ops. Images showing ‘real people’ doing ‘real work’ help to generate a sense of climate solutions being integrated into daily life.
Cold storage facilities are a key solution to reducing waste and increasing income for farmers. However, cooling is currently only available for 10% of perishables in India, leaving 370 million tonnes at risk (Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, 2014). Most cooling solutions are also carbon intensive and unavailable for farmers living in energy deprived regions.
There is a clear demand for sustainable off-grid cooling solutions, particularly at the ‘first mile’ when produce has just been harvested and its quality starts to rapidly decline. Ecozen Solutions is an Indian company specialising in portable solar cold rooms which have thermal energy storage and are designed to work even in low sunlight. The farmers using the cold rooms have seen significant increases in their profits.
WHAT IT SHOWS: Harvesting gerberas for storage in the Ecofrost. Ecozen - 2018 Ashden Award winners.