Why Bill Gates Wants to Reinvent the Toilet

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Bill Gates wants to reinvent the toilet? As funny as that may sound (quit laughing), this is actually a serious subject.

The goal is to find "innovative solutions" for sanitation in poor urban areas. Gates says it's time to move on from the era of the classic toilet. He points out that, despite all the recent achievements, 40% of the world's population, or some 2.5 billion people, still lives without proper means of flushing away excrement. But just giving them Western-style toilets isn't possible because of the world's limited water resources.
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toilet that has poo eliminating sharks with laser-beams on their heads
 
Our current European and American toilets are awful to be honest. Most of the time they sit way too high and don't properly support. There's also the whole hemorrhoids issue.
 
I have other, more realistic solutions that make far more sense. But they would be dubbed immoral by the common man
 
Uh isin't there already another solution like the toilets on shitty fishing boats (toilet of flames) or even like we did with outhouses and just burn it?
 
next-Jin said:
Uh isin't there already another solution like the toilets on shitty fishing boats (toilet of flames) or even like we did with outhouses and just burn it?
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What do you mean "we"?

Outhouses work well for places with very low population density. You think Western cities had outhouses before modern plumbing? Not quite. The excrement literally flowed down ditches in the streets.
 
piscian18 said:
I'm never gonna squat on a damn toilet. Thats gotta cramp legs like a mofo.
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Not really.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y76UbfBr5vo"]YouTube - ‪How To Do The Asian Squat‬‏[/ame]
 
Gates has definitely released a few shitty products in his time so I give him a good chance of success.

Sorry, couldn't resist. :)
 
NickJames said:
Our current European and American toilets are awful to be honest. Most of the time they sit way too high and don't properly support. There's also the whole hemorrhoids issue.
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And that is why you can buy and/or order toilets in a pretty large range of heights AND shapes.

Apparently you have never been to Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other half repectable store that sells kithen and bath implements.

The specialty stores have a huge range of what they stock and even more if you need to special order something.
 
They should borrow from the wild. A lot of fish farms use Talapia to eat other fish's excrement. That may not work and would be expensive in other countries, but perhaps that's an angle to take. They could go the Mexico route and use it as fertilizer.
 
pgwalsh said:
They should borrow from the wild. A lot of fish farms use Talapia to eat other fish's excrement. That may not work and would be expensive in other countries, but perhaps that's an angle to take. They could go the Mexico route and use it as fertilizer.
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There are some alternative fuel grps that use it, in conjunction with some specific compost, to create electricity in buildings. No waste water, and added benefit of creating energy from it.
 
These are places that don't have plumbing or sewers or sufficient fresh water to reliably provide enough for the population to drink.

And you want them to process their excrement into fuel and electricity?
 
Looks Bill gates..

is finally doing..

**Puts on sunglasses**

his duty.
 
cyclone3d said:
Apparently you have never been to Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other half repectable store that sells kithen and bath implements.
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Did anyone else read this entire sentence with a lisp?

Back on topic, it really is the little things like this that we take for granted, that make a huge difference. Bravo to Bill for taking on a shitty job. Or at least delegating it to his senior engineer. ;)
 
kumquat said:
These are places that don't have plumbing or sewers or sufficient fresh water to reliably provide enough for the population to drink.

And you want them to process their excrement into fuel and electricity?
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Clean drinking water is just about the most important commodity in the third world but as they are trying to develop what else might come in handy? We are proving self-powered laptops to these regions, we are trying to get everyone, except ourselves, to abide by the Kyoto accords, so you tell me why having this in place wouldn't be a good idea.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Did anyone else read this entire sentence with a lisp?

Back on topic, it really is the little things like this that we take for granted, that make a huge difference. Bravo to Bill for taking on a shitty job. Or at least delegating it to his senior engineer. ;)
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haha.. I guess I should have reread it again before I hit post.
 
I suspect he gained a lot of toilet knowledge flushing Microsoft Bob and Windows ME CD's down the crapper.
 
TheWeazmeister said:
Clean drinking water is just about the most important commodity in the third world but as they are trying to develop what else might come in handy? We are proving self-powered laptops to these regions, we are trying to get everyone, except ourselves, to abide by the Kyoto accords, so you tell me why having this in place wouldn't be a good idea.
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Having it in place would be great.

Getting it in place is virtually impossible, especially across entire continents. You can't just decide that these vast swaths of countries that are impoverished, malnourished, and largely unwatered should just "have" state of the art waste-processing facilities. Who will build them? Who will run them? Where will the resources to create and manage them come from when the surrounding areas are barely getting by in mud huts?
 
cyclone3d said:
And that is why you can buy and/or order toilets in a pretty large range of heights AND shapes.

Apparently you have never been to Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other half repectable store that sells kithen and bath implements.

The specialty stores have a huge range of what they stock and even more if you need to special order something.
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You have no choice when it comes to public restrooms, and in America they just plain SUCK.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Did anyone else read this entire sentence with a lisp?

Back on topic, it really is the little things like this that we take for granted, that make a huge difference. Bravo to Bill for taking on a shitty job. Or at least delegating it to his senior engineer. ;)
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Forgot to add one thing.. and no edit button on front page threads...

The only reason I know about this stuff is because my wife and I bought a fixer-upper house and I prefer to do any work I can myself instead of paying some contractor who doesn't know what they are doing to do the work.
 
stillsuit.jpg
 
piscian18 said:
I'm never gonna squat on a damn toilet. Thats gotta cramp legs like a mofo.
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Mammals squat naturely to defecate. Cavemen didn't carve rocks into toilet bowls. Alot of hospitals have these plastic rings that sit underneath the toilet that you can pull out to put your legs on to give support and help incline your body to properly position your bowels for easy extraction. That's why I use the tippy toe technique. I spend less than 2 minutes in the bathroom while most people I know are in there for 5-10 because they can't properly defecate.
 
NickJames said:
You have no choice when it comes to public restrooms, and in America they just plain SUCK.
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Then don't use the public restrooms if you can help it.

I do agree that they suck... and the reason they are like that is because there are certain "madates" by the "awesome" government that requires the businesses to have a certain style, height, etc of toilets for "accessibility" purposes.

Good luck changing it.
 
kumquat said:
Having it in place would be great.

Getting it in place is virtually impossible, especially across entire continents. You can't just decide that these vast swaths of countries that are impoverished, malnourished, and largely unwatered should just "have" state of the art waste-processing facilities. Who will build them? Who will run them? Where will the resources to create and manage them come from when the surrounding areas are barely getting by in mud huts?
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Who is talking about state of the art waste-processing facilities? What I am talking about is literally that just about anyone can build it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Composting-Toilet

Obviously this isn't an electricity generating setup, but the idea is still the same.
 
Having lived in east asia, I can tell you why they have squat toilets.

Poverty. Plain and simple. A hole in the ground is cheaper than an expensive porcelain throne.

And the seated toilet is not a new invention. The great Roman empire are the ones that spread modern plumbing systems, and made popular seated toilets.

So thank you Rome for advancing the masses pooping in dug holes to modern hygiene with aqueducts, public baths, exfoliating cleansers,water fountains, toilets, and more.
 
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