AFI SOCIAL ENTERPRISES SUCCESS STORIES: Temperate Technologies

Low-power and low-cost cold storage solution suitable for off-grid operation in villages for raising farmer incomes.

About Startup:

Temperate Technologies provide farmers with access to small, decentralized, solar-powered cold rooms based on a new energy-efficient cooling technology that consumes 40-80% less energy than traditional refrigeration-based solutions. Lower energy use makes their cold rooms highly suitable for off-grid solar-powered installations near the farm gate. Their technology offers up to 35% lower total cost of ownership and a 2-year payback period. The core innovation is a new type of evaporative cooling tower which cools to a much lower temperature and has significantly lower maintenance requirements than existing products. These increase energy efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. The startup has filed three patent applications to protect their innovation.

The first target market is small-medium sized commercial buildings with air conditioning systems of 10-100 tons (35-350 kW) cooling capacity, which so far was not able to use the energy-efficiency advantage of evaporative cooling towers. These include retail stores, restaurants, banks and office buildings. Air conditioning is a large and rapidly growing source of greenhouse gas emissions globally. The aforesaid technology also reduces direct CO2 emissions by up to 50%.

Temperate Technologies has also developed an off-the-shelf refrigeration unit that would help reduce the cost of cold storage systems, thus making it affordable for small and marginal farmers.