Greenpeace develops solar-powered refrigerators to preserve vaccines

Manila: International environment group Greenpeace said yesterday it has developed a solar-powered refrigerator to help preserve vaccines and other medicines in remote areas starved for electricity.

The versatile refrigeration technology uses the heat of the sun. It uses environmentally safe refrigerants, bypasses the use of lead batteries and can also be plugged into the power grid.

The SolarChill was developed over the last six years and has been field-tested in Senegal, Indonesia, and Cuba. Once it receives WHO approval, SolarChill will be sent across the poor nations around the world.

"SolarChill demonstrates in a very practical way how the largely untapped resource of clean, renewable, light energy from the sun can be harnessed to meet very basic human needs, such as the safeguarding of vaccines, medicines, and food supplies," said Greenpeace Southeast-Asia Climate and Energy campaigner Jasper Inventor.

"This innovation will improve the delivery of vaccine programmes in many regions of the world, particularly in developing countries like ours, and save countless lives."

Successful public health programmes rely on a supply of high quality vaccines that need continuous cooling to remain effective.

But many regions in the world have power lines, and have inadequate or intermittent electricity supply that cannot be used to standard refrigerators.

This results in millions of dollars of spoiled vaccines each year, or sometimes a total absence of vaccination programmes.

The new refrigerator also can be used for emergency relief in natural or human made disaster zones, aside from addressing the current environmental concern about kerosene and battery-powered solar cooling machines.

Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environment problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.