This is the most clever thing I have seen in a long time. The equation is simple:
2(cardboard box) + black paint + aluminium foil + acrylic cover = Kyoto BoxThere’s an image of the final result over here.
Attributes include:
- costs just $US 5 to produce
- amazingly simple to create
- completely solar powered: no need for fuel
- no greenhouse gas emissions in usage (can prevent two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per family per year)
As an advocate of appropriate technology, I find this invention to be very exciting. The ability to easily create clean drinking water and cook food can in one fell swoop eliminate many of the problems and points of conflict in the developing world.
Of course, reality is much more complex than that, but I am hopeful. One thing that remains to be seen is whether this idea actually takes off. I’ve seen a number of good ideas fail to take hold, often due to interference or lack of interest from political or corporate entities. The bane of these low-tech solutions is the perceived lack of any profit motive. Companies find it difficult to make any money off it, but they can make a killing from selling their Machine That Goes Ping at $999.99 a pop (of which, only $5 will go towards producing and improving the product, and the rest goes to marketing and legal).
