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Gates Foundation Makes Progress On Reinvented Toilets
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."
... now come with a Start button. Blue loo of death, anyone?
Has to be said.
Some of these things seem rather complicated and use materials that aren't easy to obtain.
To provide greater benefit the machine should be able to be manufactured without specialized tools and be able to be built with universally available, preferably recyclable or re-purposed materials. If people can make a living out of making and servicing these toilets then the sanitary and economic (from the created industry) benefit will spread quickly and independently without requiring the oversight of a foreign NGO.
Anyone who thinks this is a silly idea needs to spend two weeks in a city without modern plumbing.
To be honest, the amount of good Bill Gates has done for the world is quite remarkable. Since 2007 he has given away $28 billion, saving 6 million lives. That's $2 billion more than US budget for foreign aid. Say what you want about Gates or Microsoft, but he really has helped the world with the money he made.
Long time linux lover here. Long time hater of MS policy and business practice. However, this man, who was once the richest man in the world has in the latest 15 years of his life great things for humanity. Things that actually make a different for people. I don't care how much you hate windows or Gates as the former president of that company, but surely you can't be against him spending so much of his fortune (and sure, he has enough money to have a comfortable life even with doing this) to make lifes better... Give the guy a break on this part. He has spend a fortune on his foundation and did so with many great projects that actually got shit done. (no phun intended)
You mean, other than Windows Me?
..plus Vista
Come on guys, don't mock the guy just because his earlier public toilet initiatives were less effective.
When confronted with one problem, some think "I'll use recursion". Now they are confronted with one problem.
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.