Solar Powered Refrigeration.

The market: Dairy industry in India.

The product: A hybrid-powered milk chiller.

Promethean Power Systems is a for-profit entreprise aimed at cold-chain food distribution in emerging markets.  They spent a month in India doing exhaustive market research to best design their product, so it might sound obscure, but it sounds like they know what they're doing.

The idea is simple and elegant:

1. Take a system that is ineffecient and expensive => A conventional bulk milk cooler (which depends on a mix of grid power and a backup diesel generator)

2. Optimize the system by working all angles, a) improving the cooling system, and b) design an appropriate hybrid energy source - in this case, a mix of solar and grid power with a "thermal battery" (to store "cold energy").  On top of that, add a "hybrid-power optimizer", a control unit that runs the entire system, and minimizes energy consumption and optimizes the use of solar and grid power.  => Promethean's design!

It's efficient, cheaper, and better for the environment.  Win-win-win.  I like it.

I'm interested to see where they go from here.  Very very "cool".