Everyone knows that philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates put a lot of premium on green solutions to the problems of the developing world, putting a lot of money into setting up basic facilities such as smart toilets across parts of Asia where a toilet is often counted upon as a luxury in poor families.
The latest from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a green toilet that is so environment friendly that all it needs is a pot full of urine and it is buzzing with energy to produce electricity. Yes, you heard right. A toilet that uses urine as the raw material to generate electricity that can then be used to light and power homes in inaccessible parts of the world.
British scientists who developed the urinal in collaboration with aid agency Oxfam, are currently trial testing the toilet at the University of West of England in Bristol where staff and students are using it. If their efforts succeed in generating a constant supply of power, the researchers are hopeful it can be used to provide electricity in otherwise difficult locations such as refugee camps.
It is always a challenge to light inaccessible areas far from a power supply, Andy Bastable, Head of Water and Sanitation at Oxfam said recently. This technology is a huge step forward. Living in a refugee camp is hard enough without the added threat of being assaulted in dark places at night. The potential of this invention is huge.
The toilets, which will cost upwards of US$914 when rolled out commercially, run on bacteria that breaks down the chemicals in urine in order to release energy in the form of electricity that will then be stored in capacitors in a fuel cell. The microbial fuel cells (MFC) have live microbes which depend on urine for their own growth and maintenance.
To cut a long story short, the toilet is an eminently green and sustainable solution because not only does it not utilise fossil fuels but it also leverages the power of a waste product that is available for free in plentiful amounts. –Khaleej Times
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