Refrigeration

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Einstein fridge

Albert Einstein invented a refrigerator with no moving parts. It is powered by applying heat to one of the chambers; no electricity is required. The expired patent gives basic plans of how it works. This should be developed into a full open-source design with building instructions, bill of materials etc. It fulfils all the criteria for an Open Ecology product: it is in the public domain, it should last a lifetime and be cheap to build, it would be extremely useful to an off-grid community, it could help alleviate poverty .

Thermal mass fridge

Described in Volume III of the Earthship manual. Basically uses the coolness of the earth in summer to keep cool.

Persian windcatchers

A windcatcher is a tower rising up to catch high winds and funnel them down into an area to be cooled. Simultaneously, it acts as a chimney letting hot air rise out. An underground storage area with a windcatcher tower rising out of it would stay very cool - combining windcatcher and thermal mass methods.