Story of Bottled Water

After watching the story of bottled water, I now know why I definitely should not get it. Marketers have brainwashed consumers into believing bottled water is better when the big brands just used tap water anyway. This is very unethical and we as designers must find a way to prevent this from happening. We stop associating ourselves with packaging bottled water, we should design better ways to promote drinking tap water. All the bottles will end up in landfills and will most likely won’t even be recycled back into a sustain system. This growing trend must cease to exist and as it was suggested, bottled water should become a taboo like smoking. If designs such as the tap filter or reusable bottles with filters were more marketed then it will reassure consumers that tap water from home let alone anywhere is safe and drinkable and does no lower your status in the status quo. We must start a new trend saying that bottled water is in fact not good for you at all because the processes in which is used to manufacture the bottled water is doing harm to the environment and is going to end up in our bodies in the end because pollution will take its toll. Also the after life the bottled water is not satisfactory either. They must be properly managed no just shipped over to another country and polluting their environment instead.

DESIGN SCENARIO

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Disaster Design - Solar Rice Cooker Rationale

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Bangladesh is hit by cyclones on occasional basis and Cyclone SIDR was one of the more recent disasters to have taken place there. It killed approximately 3000 people and local authorities were slow to help reconstruct the disaster stricken areas due to the fact that they disallowed foreign aid to come in as soon as possible. This aspect paved way for a design which can allow the local governments to hand out water and rice rations to the desperate people as a RESPONSE EFFORT.

Rice and fishing are the main sources of economy and income in Bangladesh thus a Solar Rice Cooker seemed relevant to the target market. This solar rice cooker was to transform conventional solar food cookers; which consisted of enormous reflectors and a science project appearance, into a simpler, smaller and innovative form. There is an existing heat insulating tyre solar food cooker which uses the tubing of a tyre and a glass lid to insulate
heat into a pot, cooking the food inside in 3 hours.

There is also currently a solar rice cooker in the market which uses double glazed glass to insulate and store heat in the bowl. However the main problem with this design was that it was only a single serve its double glazed lid was flat which means that it won’t capture maximum sunlight. This provided a hole in the market for me to exploit.

THE DESIGN – SUNRICE

Not only does Sun Rice eliminate the need for giant reflectors it can now cook for a Bangladesh family with more efficiency. It has a:

-DOME double glazed glass lid which can capture more sunlight at more angles of the sun.

-Black rubber lid base which prevents users form getting burnt and nests onto the cooking pan which prevents heat loss.

-Split storage pot that holds water and rice which acts as a stabiliser after it has been used.

-Insulated inner rice cooking pot.

-Arms on the outer pot to allow users to use rope to carry from place to place.

Along with these innovations is the typical blackened pot. Even though it does not need reflectors, they can still be applied to further enhance the cooking efficiency hence the spherical form, which is to help capture maximum heat along with he extra height from the stabiliser.

MATERIALS

The choices of materials were to provide maximum durability and heat insulation efficiency.

The Base Pot:
The base pot is pressed from aluminium for it is a good conductor of heat and is light weight. It is then blackened with either non toxic paint or burnt with fire. This is to help absorb heat which is then transferred into the inner cooking pan which then cooks the rice.

Cooking Pan:
The cooking pan is also pressed but from steel. This is to allow for a more durable pan which can be easily cleaned.

Rice/Water Storage Pot:
The split storage pot is also made of aluminium for it doesn’t corrode from water. It is lightweight.

Lid Base:
the lid is made from black rubber which is to prevent users from burning their hands when opening the lid. It also allows the lid to nest comfortably on the cooking pan so when it is cooking rice, minimal heat is lost.

Spacer:
The spacer is also made of black rubber to allow for a maximum air tight lid. It is to separate the two glazed glass, which meets with double glazed glass standards.

Inner and Outer Glazed Glass:
The double glazed glass are made from low emissivity glass which allows solar radiation to pass into the cooker. Thus this form of glass reduces heat loss but allows the cooker to be warmed by sunlight.

DESIGN RELEVANCE

Sun Rice can cook up to 2kgs of rice, enough to feed a Bangladesh family in poverty; which is the intended market. It will be handed out by local authorities to the masses as a RESPONSE and a contract will be signed also stating that the user will pay off the debt over a period of time. The purpose of this is to ensure that they will not sell their solar rice cooker or even just throw it away; it will make them appreciate the product more.

During the duration of the cyclone disaster, the victims will go back to ration stations and receive rice and water to cook in their Sun Rice cooker. This will be continued until the disaster reconstruction efforts have passed.

After the duration of the disaster the victims will then rely on their own resources to cook with and they will continually pay off the debt. What makes this Sun Rice even more relevant is the fact that Bangladesh has 12 annual festivals and celebrations, each of which consist of the people going back to visit relatives to eat as a family. The solar rice cooker can be taken to help prepare food for those families which lack the financial benefits of affording electricity.