Bill Gates Wants to Reinvent the Toilet
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it has awarded Delft University of Technology a grant to develop a new type of toilet.
This new device would process human waste much differently, especially without the use of water.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President of the Foundation's Global Development program, said at the AfricaSan3 Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, that the toilet has not been reinvented in centuries and has only reached about 2.6 billion people around the world. The fact that toilets are not available everywhere is causing a monumental sanitary problem that is a catalyst for the development of diseases that are filling half of all hospital beds in developing countries.
Future toilets should not require a significant infrastructure, work without water and recycle human waste to energy sources. For example, waste could be converted into bio fuel, fertilizer and even fresh water. Specifically, Mathews Burwell said that the "Toilet 2.0" could be an electricity generator, a urine-diverting device that recovers clean water on site and function as a production device for minerals and biological charcoal.
The grant is part of a $41.5 million investment in water, sanitation and hygiene, the Foundation said.
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Bravo! This is an excellent idea.
It is crazy the amount of fresh water that is flushed daily, developing countries need this for sure, but from a conservationalist stance the us could stand for an update.
As population grows, water will become more and more of a commodity and logistics nightmare.
Good idea...
Just hope it doesn't break or that'll be one messy fix.
He's given up on reinventing Windows. Now he's trying to reinvent toilets.
Same thing?
Shit!
Excellent, idea.
Bill Gates, doing what Steve Jobs wishes he could do, giving us shit that matters.
a toilet which does not use water already exists, its called a multrum.
Will it use the 3 sea shells?
For a couple bucks, any toilet can modified with a simple kit. I installed 2 of them. On the rubber stopper, it can be adjusted from level 1 to 9. Higher number being the standard amount of water used when it is flushed. I have all mine set to 4. This means a full toilet could be flushed several times per tankful. If its yellow, flush and release. If its brown, hold it down (to allow more water for flushing). Im pretty sure its less than ten bucks.
Article inverses the population figure who have access to toilets.
The video states that 2.6 billion people DON'T have access to a toilet...not DO have access...
From the hit to the shit! Bill found the job of his life!
Creating the shitdigger replacing current crappers, fully automated with MS operating system!
How more crappy can it get?
I wonder how much is the new toilet is going to cost? 3 grand?
It could be called Rear Windows
For a couple bucks, any toilet can modified with a simple kit. I installed 2 of them. On the rubber stopper, it can be adjusted from level 1 to 9. Higher number being the standard amount of water used when it is flushed. I have all mine set to 4. This means a full toilet could be flushed several times per tankful. If its yellow, flush and release. If its brown, hold it down (to allow more water for flushing). Im pretty sure its less than ten bucks.
THat's a great fix for now, for everyone who already has a standard toilet. And I'm sure whatever comes of this (contest?) will help the greater part of the world which still needs sanitation and does not yet have something suitable with which do dispose of human waste.
Bill Gates is the new Thomas Crapper. will this will bring a whole new meaning to the word Gates?
Unless this can be done with cheap, readily available "household" chemicals, I think reducing the amount of water needed is likely to make a lot more sense from a conservation perspective, most of the time. Otherwise, I can envision some other sort of [expensive] consumable(s) being required, not to imagine the cost and expertise required to make any needed repairs. A part of the world that is unable to supply even rudimentary plumbing is not likely to possess the means to ensure delivery and replacement of other consumables.
For a couple bucks, any toilet can modified with a simple kit. I installed 2 of them. On the rubber stopper, it can be adjusted from level 1 to 9. Higher number being the standard amount of water used when it is flushed. I have all mine set to 4. This means a full toilet could be flushed several times per tankful. If its yellow, flush and release. If its brown, hold it down (to allow more water for flushing). Im pretty sure its less than ten bucks.
Maybe a high pressure setting for those messy loads. Wouldn't want to leave treadmarks behind.
Now when Bill says he has to "log out" there will be a double meaning.
The problem is not the toilet, but the rich bast@rds who waste money like it was dug from backyard.
Unless this can be done with cheap, readily available "household" chemicals, I think reducing the amount of water needed is likely to make a lot more sense from a conservation perspective, most of the time. Otherwise, I can envision some other sort of [expensive] consumable(s) being required, not to imagine the cost and expertise required to make any needed repairs. A part of the world that is unable to supply even rudimentary plumbing is not likely to possess the means to ensure delivery and replacement of other consumables.
The only chemical that is needed is chlorine. I work at a wastewater treatment plant as an operator. It requires bacteria in an aerobic environment to breakdown the organic material into sludge, or you can do it anaerobically and produce methane, either way you get sludge that needs to be dried, then it can be turned into fertilizer, the water that's left needs aerobic bacteria processing, then tertiary treatment to make it drinkable, after it has been disinfected with chlorine. I have no idea how they plan to make this happen. It needs constant feeding for the bacteria to stay alive (consistent feeding)... Wastewater Treatment Plants are a NECESSITY.
Now when Bill says he has to "log out" there will be a double meaning.
LOL! Nicee!!
Well I wanna see a working prototype before having hope. I cant imagine it will smell pleasant or be all that clean.
Don't forget that most sewage systems are designed for 'regular' flushing, meaning that if people flush too little, the sewers get flushed by the people in charge of it, reducing any water savings back to zero. To accommodate this the old sewer system also needs to get an overhaul.
It doesn't look any different than the other Gate's Crates he's come out with.
Try to make them invest in a pipesystem first.
Else whats the point.
Use ur head Bill Gates
Well, Bill Gates has been selling shit for over 30 years, he may as well find a way to deal with it.
These people are too much. As if Tesla could have thrown a buch of money at alternating current and it would invent itself. Only the rich could get media coverage for something they haven't even done...ohh look money. Read mlopinto2k1's post. How about creating modular sewage treatment plants to ship drop to remote locations. Don't worry about powering a nation with waste, just make sure the thing can power itself. Then they will have a reason to pipe in a little infrastructure.
Pay attention Bill, Apple willo sue you
Turrbo
http://www.alnoualeacer.ro
As long as it doesn't BSOD when I'm sitting on it
It is crazy the amount of fresh water that is flushed daily, developing countries need this for sure, but from a conservationalist stance the us could stand for an update.As population grows, water will become more and more of a commodity and logistics nightmare.
um... no?
watter in america wont become a problem... ever... for most people. there are some where a gas company leaks gas into water and it becomes flamable, but that is 1 in a few million chance.
realisticly, the quality of our watter will drop at some point, but it will still be more than drinkable.
and ever take a big s*** in a low flow toilet? i mean the kind of s*** that can clog a normal toilet on poo alone? if anything out toilets need more pressure, but use less watter, till than, it wont change.
I'm waiting until Toilet 7 to give them time to work out the bugs. Seriously though, I thought they already had this. It's called Vista.