When I was a child, my parents often told me to turn off the air conditioner in an empty room. The reason being that it is useless to cool down an empty room. But my parents didn't seem to realize that it was a waste of time to cool down a drink that no one would be drinking anytime soon.
British company Enviro-Cool has developed a cooling device called V-TEX that can chill a can of beer to 5 degrees Celsius in 45 seconds. Although the mechanism is completely different, the product is designed to be a "chillable microwave oven" that can chill drinks as soon as they are needed.
V-TEX" can chill a can of beer to 5 degrees Celsius in 45 seconds
I don't want to be forced to drink lukewarm beer. But if you think about it, you should be able to cool down your beer right before you take a sip. For example, just as you heat up a cold lunch in a microwave oven just before eating it, it would be sufficient to cool a drink just before drinking it. It would save electricity. This was the motivation behind the development of V-TEX.
Unlike ice cream, which melts when heated, beverages in bottles or cans can be stored at room temperature except for drinking. Yet supermarkets use electricity to keep drinks cold 24 hours a day. This is like cooling an empty room, and it is wasteful.
Supermarkets keep drinks chilled 24 hours a day
V-TEX is an eco-friendly cooling system. According to Enviro-Cool, V-Tex creates a rotating stream of water around the beverage can or bottle, like a washing machine, which allows for rapid cooling. Wow! I have no idea how it works, but wow!
V-Tex can also chill a bottle of wine
This "vortex" is the key to rapid cooling!
V-Tex is said to be available in two types, one for commercial use and the other for home use. The commercial version was designed for installation in supermarkets. By installing this in supermarkets, they can not only save on electricity costs to keep drinks constantly chilled, but also on the cost of installing cooling equipment, thus reducing the selling price of drinks.
This is a prototype of the commercial V-Tex. Customers can chill their drinks "on demand".
With V-Tex for home use, beer can be moved from the refrigerator to underfloor storage, for example. You can store other food items in the space available.
Still, it never occurred to me that it would be wasteful to keep drinks chilled that won't be consumed right away; how did the V-Tex developers realize this? And maybe there are other things that we are wasting our time cooling or heating up as well. And, and, maybe that is a business opportunity.
Well, for now, take a break with a glass of chilled wine.
