Caltech team wins $100K grant for sustainable toilet design

A Caltech team won a $100,000 grant for designing a solar-powered toilet that turns waste into hydrogen gas and generates energy.

The Gates Foundation launched the challenge one year ago to address ways to improve human health by managing public waste. Poor sanitation remains an ongoing problem in developing countries and results in about 1.5 million child deaths annually.

“Innovative solutions change people’s lives for the better,” Bill Gates said in a statement. “If we apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of the world’s toughest problems.”

Caltech competed with schools around the world for the prize. The University in the United Kingdom won second place for their biological charcoal-producing toilet and the University of Toronto won third place for a design that sanitizes human waste.

Caltech showed off their design Monday and Tuesday at an event in Seattle, where the foundation’s headquarters are located.

-- Tiffany Kelly, Times Community News

Join me on Google+ or follow me on Twitter @LATiffanyKelly