Serving Freshness: How Coldhubs is Tackling Food Waste in Nigeria

In partnership with local communities, a non-government organization’s solar-powered instant milk chillers are refrigerating locals' camel milk to keep it from spoiling in the extreme temperatures of India’s Thar Desert. The refrigeration systems store up to 1,500 liters of milk and are helping to increase household incomes.

Farmers in India are using solar dryers to reduce the amount of crops that are wasted due to weather and increase their incomes. The enclosed machines reach high temperatures to dry out crops like grapes on mesh trays and produce a higher-quality, more hygienic end product compared to sun drying.

Solar-powered cold storage units help farmers in India to store their harvests during extreme heat instead of discarding their produce or trying to sell it quickly for cheap to avoid waste. The solar-powered option is significantly cheaper than typical electric cold storage, making it more accessible to small-scale farmers.

Solar-powered irrigation systems are helping Nigerian smallholder farmers reduce fuel costs by over 60%, extend their growing seasons, and increase crop yields, while also improving local air quality and reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2020, Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency installed a 50-kilowatt solar-hybrid system at Gombe State Specialist Hospital, providing uninterrupted electricity to critical units, including the ICU and emergency departments. Since its installation, maternal mortality dropped from 15-20 deaths monthly to 1-2 per month, and neonatal deaths also decreased from 50 to 20-25 monthly. The system has also helped healthcare workers perform life-saving surgeries without interruption, as these surgeries were often delayed or impossible due to power outages.

A Berlin-based non-profit, Access to Energy Institute (A2EI), is providing traders at Wuse Market in Abuja :solar generators," which has reduced noise and fumes while also saving the community money by no longer having to buy fuel for generations. The installed solar panel system sends real-time data back to Berlin for monitoring and maintenance.

Native Renewables, a Native- and women-led nonprofit, is bringing free, off-grid solar energy systems to homes in the Navajo and Hopi reservations that don’t have access to power. And it’s doing so by training local Indigenous peoples to work in the industry so they can reap the economic benefits of these careers instead of hiring out the work.

With funding and support from the Heritage Foundation Pakistan, a remote, off-grid village installed a solar energy system that supplies residents with free power and has improved their quality of life.

The BrandTell Nigeria Business Group is a WhatsApp group that provides daily interactive sessions on building online brand visibility to business owners with little to no online presence. Those subscribed to the group also have access to online tools for bookkeeping, graphic design and content creation to help grow their business.

Churches in Appalachia are installing solar arrays and encouraging their communities to make energy-efficient upgrades and renewable-energy swaps, too. The Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church in West Virginia purchased its array with donations that community members raised from the money they saved on energy after installing free smart-control devices in their homes that reduced energy use during peak hours.