Whenever Bill Gates deals with a problem, one must be sure – he will tackle it. The fund headed by Bill and his wife Melinda ventured to find a solution to the problem which is essential for 2.5 billion people – absence of proper sanitation. Students of California Technology University are to take advantage of both solar energy and human waste to solve this delicate issue. Modern solar-powered toilet was created for these purposes and is ready to be implemented under the most severe conditions. The philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed an agreement with the largest manufacturing company Kohler which is ready to start mass production two years after the creation of the first prototype.
If talking about the construction itself, it can be easily transported to any part of the world. A regular shipping container supplied with automatic flush and cleansing systems is taken as the basis. The container is covered with solar batteries. The toilet is fully autonomous – chemicals and water are used for disinfection and they are produced as a result of separation salts from urine. Solar toilet works smoothly in sunny areas thus is perfect for the countries that face the problems of poor sanitation. There are plans to pilot the project first to Africa and India. To reduce stigma of using WCs, a crew of professional designers and painters decorated toilets to match graphics usually seen in India. From inside and outside the toilets look like public transport. Such a winning design will help to transport the toilets from one place to another.
