Bill Gates kicks off search for toilet of the future
Microsoft
co-founder turned global philanthropist Bill Gates on Tuesday launched a
search for a new toilet better suited to developing countries.
The
charitable foundation founded by Gates and his wife kicked off a
“Reinvent the Toilet Fair” in Seattle and awarded prizes for promising
innovations.
“Toilets
are extremely important for public health and, when you think of it,
even human dignity,” Gates said in a statement at thegatesnotes.com.
“The flush
toilets we use in the wealthy world are irrelevant, impractical and
impossible for 40 percent of the global population, because they often
don’t have access to water, and sewers, electricity, and sewage
treatment systems.”
The Toilet
Fair was described as a swirl of about 200 inventors, designers,
investors, partners and others passionate about creating safe,
effective, and inexpensive waste management systems.
Universities
from Britain, Canada, and the United States were awarded prizes in a
competition launched a year ago challenging inventors to come up with a
better toilet.
First
place went to the California Institute of Technology for designing a
solar-powered toilet that generates hydrogen gas and electricity.
Loughborough University came in second for a toilet that transforms waste into biological charcoal, minerals, and clean water.
Third place went to the University of Toronto for a toilet that sanitizes human waste and recovers minerals and water.
“Four in
10 people worldwide don’t have a safe way to poop,” the Gates Foundation
said in a message beneath a Reinvent the Toilet video at its
gatesfoundation.org website.
via: news.yahoo.com
