SEATTLE, (Reuters) – Bill Gates is betting the toilet of the future for the developing world will be solar powered.
The world’s leading private philanthropist handed a $100,000 prize to the California Institute of Technology yesterday for its work on a self-contained, sun-powered system that recycles water and breaks down human waste into storable energy.
Gates is focusing on the need for a new type of toilet as an important part of his foundation’s push to improve health in the developing world. Open defecation leads to sanitation problems that cause 1.5 million children under 5 to die each year, Gates said, and Western-syle toilets are not the answer as they demand a complex sewer infrastructure and use too much water.
The Microsoft Corp co-founder is looking to change that by sparking new inventions in toilet technology, which he says has not fundamentally changed since the invention of the flush toilet in 1775.
“Imagine what’s possible if we continue to collaborate, stimulate new investment in this sector, and apply our ingenuity in the years ahead,” Gates said at his foundation’s Seattle headquarters on Tuesday. “Many of these innovations will not only revolutionize sanitation in the developing world, but also help transform our dependence on traditional flush toilets in wealthy nations.”
His foundation announced $3.4 million in new funding yesterday for toilet projects being worked on by various organizations, bringing total investment in its “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” to about $6.5 million.
About 2.6 billion people, or 40 percent of world’s population — mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia — lack access to safe sanitation and are forced to defecate in the open, according to Gates.
