Most households cannot live without a refrigerator as most of their food is stored there. The problem of course is that it consumes a lot of electricity and even contributes to 30% of annual food waste since you sometimes forget you have this particular food stored there. There are product designers looking into creating food preservation units that will have less energy consumption and also reduce food waste.

Designer Name: Matéo Robin

Totem is one such food preservation unit that is able to integrate both modern and ancestral technologies. The inspiration actually comes from the Zeer pot which is what they used back in the day to keep food fresh by using evaporative cooling. This piece of furniture also uses that old school technology in certain parts due to its double clay walls. It is able to cut energy consumption in half, which is important for those who want lower electricity bills.

What’s also great about the Totem is that there are different compartments and segments to place different food. There’s a compartment for fruits and vegetables, for tubers, and for food that need ethylene like apples, bananas, and tomatoes. There’s the freezer compartment as well that has a vacuum between two walls to reduce heat loss. It also uses various materials and textures for those different storage zones.

The prototype of this food preservation unit looks like a typical kitchen cabinet that has different kinds of storage materials. The fact that this will potentially lower electricity bills is of course very attractive. Now as to whether food will actually still stay fresh and delicious, that is the question.

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