AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being, Affordable & Clean Energy, Reduced Inequality, Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions, Refugees and Migrants
KEYWORDS
zero energy, medicine, storage, cooler, terracotta
COUNTRY
Italy
DESIGNED BY
Carolina H. Valdez, Haruna Yamashita, Jessie Feng, Matteo Ruffo, Srishti Chauhan, Veronica Tappi
WEBSITE
https://www.figma.com/proto/53dj1CazQTChMnEqZiRvPU/Lazy-Susan?page-id=1290%3A283&node-id=1367%3A355&viewport=944%2C492%2C0.11&scaling=min-zoom&starting-point-node-id=1367%3A355
Terra Med (Zero-energy Medical Assistance)
Zero-energy medicine storage containers and zero-energy solutions for people in need, who are often
How does it work?
Our product, service, and system are aimed at those in need of care and medication with limited or no availability of essential resources, especially energy. It involves the production and distribution of terracotta (or other alternative materials in the future) medicine storage containers to people, who are often in vulnerable situations such as floods, war, and refugee camps.
As a starting point,
Terra Med brings solutions from the sustainable practices of the use of Terracotta. Terracotta material is porous, allowing water to evaporate from its surface. As the water evaporates, it absorbs heat from the air, cooling it down. This process is called evaporative cooling, a passive cooling system that uses the natural evaporation process to cool the air. Also, it includes support and guidance from trained medical professionals, who are available on the field to provide medical treatment, distribute the containers, and ensure that they are used properly and safely.
Why is it needed?
Today the access or intermittence to energy is one of the most tenacious predicaments humanity is facing. Energy services are essential for basic human protection and dignity. However, in situations with no energy access, necessities become scarce ranging from food, water, hygiene, medicine, and treatment. In the context of Health and Medicine, Energy-dependent medical devices have become an indispensable part of modern healthcare. This essentially means that energy is required for the systematic and stable functioning of the medical infrastructure like medical equipment used for both storage and treatment. Hence we aim at providing zero-energy solutions for storing medicine to people facing extreme challenges such as internal conflict, natural disasters, epidemics, and war.
Our goal is to further stretch it into a system that inhabits versatile alternative energy solutions to further facilitate solutions.
How does it improve life?
Small acts multiplied by millions of people can transform the world. So philanthropy and human help are at the base of our design, a network that relies on donors to run the TerraMed service, to help all the people in need.
Our service involves producing and distributing terracotta medicine storage containers to people in need, who are often in vulnerable situations such as floods, war, and refugee camps. The service also includes support and guidance from trained medical professionals, who are available on the ground to provide medical treatment, distribute the containers, and ensure that they are used correctly and safely. The organization relies on individual donors, other NGOs, and companies who fulfill their corporate social responsibility by donating funds to TerraMed to keep the operations running. The funds are then used to purchase raw materials, manufacture containers, and package and transport the final product to the end user.