Amish tech
After learning about modern refrigerators’ Sabbath option, I was interested to see how far you could take the notion of electricity-free cooling. Turns out the Amish have been using this clay water cooler for years.
The Amish are a bit more tech savvy than we might imagine: cellphone use among businessmen, for instance, is pretty common. This essay details some of the decisions the Amish have made about specific technologies. Kitchen appliances, for instance, are often modified to run on compressed air, and computers are sometimes modified to run on car batteries. And those buggies they ride used to be wood (obviously), but are now made of fiberglass.
But back to that water cooler: In Africa, a similar technology is used to refrigerate all foods: the Zeer pot, which won its owner a Rolex award, keeps food cool through two locally produced ceramic pots, the larger lined with sand and water. As the sand evaporates, the inner pot enjoys passive cooling. I’d guess this won’t work if you live in a humid climate, though.
