Solar-powered Toilet Wins the First Prize in ‘Reinvent the Toilet Challenge’

The first prize of $100,000 in the 'Reinvent the Toilet Challenge' sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is won by a solar-powered toilet which is capable of turning urine and feces into hydrogen and electricity.

There were many projects that were designed to provide inexpensive and eco-friendly alternatives to the flush toilet. This challenge was introduced by The Gates Foundation about a year ago.

The solar-powered toilet was developed by Michael Hoffmann of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his colleagues.

This design uses solar power to work up an electrochemical reactor capable of breaking down human waste to produce hydrogen gas. The gas can be stored and used to make the reactor work during night or on cloudy days.



Source: Medindia