Bangladeshi E-Coolers

Thousands of Bangladeshis living in tin shacks had a more pleasant summer since last year, thanks to the Eco-Coolers developed by a Dhaka based IT company, Grameen Intel Social Business Limited. The company has developed an ‘Eco-Cooler’ with used plastic bottles.
It is very simple. The used plastic bottles are cut into half and their narrower ends are pierced into holes of a grid which may have between 40 to 50 holes. These grids are then placed over the windows with the broader opening facing outside. Caps are removed from the mouths. The air entering the wider end gets pressed into the bottle’s neck getting cooled in the process before entering the room. The temperature of the room can thus be brought down by five degree Celsius. Hundreds of homes in Bangladesh have adopted this simple device since last year and giving their inmates a restful sleep. The device is the brainchild of a partnership between the advertising agency Grey Bangladesh (which is itself a subsidiary of Grey America) and the Social Business Information Technology Company. According to Mr. Syed Gousul Alam, managing partner of Grey Dhaka, the device works better for houses made of corrugated tins.
The Eco-Cooler can even be one way to recycle plastic bottles that litter our cities in great numbers.