Group of Engineers
have turned their expertise to a decidedly less seductive, but more important
discovery. They are trying to figure out what to do with human waste product.
A
group team led by University of Colorado professor Karl Linden has made a
prototype toilet capable for turning feces into a charcoal-like substance that
can be used as fertilizer or fuel. The toilet, called Sol-Char Toilet, uses a
combination of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto fiber-optic cables, which
heat and sterilize human waste to 600 degrees Fahrenheit and turn it into a
bio-product.
They
are doing something that has never been done before,” Linden said on the
school’s page. “While the idea of concentrating solar energy is not new,
transmitting it flexibly to a customizable location via fiber-optic cables is
the really unique aspect of this amazing project.”
It
might not sound especially glamorous, but poo is one of the world’s biggest
problems. Every year, poor sanitation contributes to the deaths of 1.5 million
children from diarrhea, according to the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation.
Sol-Char is funded as part of the foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge,
which funds research to “develop waterless, hygienic toilets that do not require
a sewer connection or electricity and cost less than five cents per user per
day.”
“I
think it’s hard to make sanitation as sexy as a cell phone,” Linden told Vice.
“But by integrating into the community and making it a hub, it can be something
more interesting.”
The
University of Colorado group team plans to debut the toilet at a Gates
Foundation event in New Delhi on Saturday.
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