In rural communities where electricity is not available, the solar ice facility can be used to store and save food for personal consumption and sale.
Cultural Change:
The climate in many regions of Ghana make for very seasonal farming: crops are grown during the wet season, and stored and/or dried for use in the dry season. Food often goes bad and is wasted before it can be consumed. Markets are saturated with seasonal crops during the season, but almost empty of fresh produce during the dry season. People wish for a way to extend the life of their food.
Project Specifics:
Met with Abby from Ghana and talked about the application of solar ice in different regions. There is some very dry places in Ghana. There is also a long dry season. Crops are mostly grown during the wet season, excess is stored or dried during for the dry season. Some ares of Ghana seem ideal for the solar ice design model, especially for storing meat and highly perishable goods longer and making sales possible over many days at unreduced costs. A covered aquaponics system would be required to maintain the amounts of water needed during the dry season.
Following the AIDAfrica presentation we learned that Uganda, having a very long wet season ideal for growing crops throughout most the year and many problems with food storage and perishably, seems ideal for the application of solar ice. The large amounts of ground water can be easily tapped into for the aquaponics system.