Solar-powered toilet receives money from Bill Gates’ foundation

There is nothing quite like a solar-powered toilet now, is there, considering how we have other modes of transportation that run off solar energy? After all, this is the future of the developing world that is envisioned by none other than the software mogul of Windows himself, Bill Gates. The Bill Gates Foundation had just given a $100,000 prize to the California Institute of Technology on Tuesday in order to encourage and further develop their work on a self-contained, sun-powered system which is capable of recycling water while breaking down human waste into storable energy.

Gates hopes that this new kind of toilet will play an important role of his foundation’s push to improve health in developing nations around the globe. So far, facts show that open defecation results in sanitation problems which cause 1.5 million children under 5 to die annually, and Western-syle toilets are definitely out of the question due to the water wastage and a complex sewer infrastructure. A solar-powered toilet that is self sufficient would work far better, and hopefully his prize money will be put to good use and function as a nudge in the right direction.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Green
Tags: bill gates, Solar