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Gates Foundation Makes Progress On Reinvented Toilets

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-emporer's-new-throne dept.

Julie188 writes "Last summer the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged to spend millions to reinvent the toilet. That investment has born fruit with teams from around the world coming up with many different ways to turn human waste into energy."

3 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Does It Clean Your Asshole? by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've been pondering this recently. Here in the USA we tend to feel pretty holier-than-though, but for the most part we have pretty dirty assholes. I mean, poo touched that and we just wipe it off with some paper. If poo touched your hand, would you be content to wipe it off with paper? So why do we tolerate it with our assholes?

    I'd love to see some demographics on countries sorted by asshole cleanliness. I'm guessing that just like education and health care, the USA would be solidly in the middle of the pack. I suspect that Japan probably would have the most-clean assholes in the world, just based on their high end toilet technology. I'm not sure I want to speculate on the dirty end of the scale so as not to risk diplomatic incident.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  2. Tree Bog by pfafrich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Best and simpest idea for a toilet I've seen is the tree bog. Its a raised platform over an enclosure space fenced off with chicken wire. Around the bog you plant willow or other greedy trees which rapidly consume the nutrients, effectively turning the poo into biomass. Aerobic decomposition has advantages over anaerobic decomposition and there is no smell if you use a layer of sawdust. The whole thing requires no maintenance as the poo decomposes very quickly. Not good for urban situations but ideal in rural environments.

    --
    There are four sorts of people in the world: fools, lunatics, idiots and morons. - Umberto Eco, Foucaut's pendulum.
  3. Make the plumbing out of sunlight and sand. by An+dochasac · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Markus Kayser's solar sintering 3D printer shows what is possible when you use ingenuity, technology and two abundant desert resources, sunlight and sand. Mr. Kayser says he is already working with Kohler on the possibility of using solar powered, sand fed replicators like his to make sanitation products such as toilets and plumbing.