Typically, air conditioners are not seen as a way to keep food cold enough to safely eat. But a new technology lets air conditioners provide safe and inexpensive cold food storage.
The CoolBot. Image: Ron Khosla.
Ron Khosla, a small farmer in upstate New York, created a technology called CoolBot that turns almost any window air conditioner into a food storage machine for about an eighth of the cost of a walk-in refrigeration unit.
The device can make the air conditioners reach the freezing point of water, and maintain these temperatures through multiple sensors.
His innovation could help reduce food waste and post harvest losses.
This story first appeared on The Food Fix, another publication of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.