
A waterless toilet that turns poo into power - YeGoblynQueenne
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/07/waterless-toilet-turns-your-poo-into-power-nano-membrane-technology
======
TranquilMarmot
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10895347](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10895347)

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AaronM
Neat idea, but it won't be adopted in third world countries. Its too complex,
and if it requires any maintenance, it will be thrown away once it stops
working. That's a common theme with these kinds of devices targeting poor
nations.

~~~
entee
Absolutely. Membranes will foul, things will clog, it's basically doomed in a
developing world environment.

Re. Service contract/rental model, the economics of providing that service are
extremely challenging. People who need this product have very little money to
spare. The price would need to be set low enough, and in those price ranges
the profit margin basically disappears.

For other interesting companies doing this with these cost and pricing issues
in mind see:

[http://www.xrunner-venture.com/](http://www.xrunner-venture.com/)

[http://resourcesanitation.com/](http://resourcesanitation.com/)

Edit: full disclosure, second link is my brother's venture in the space. I've
heard a lot about toilets over dinner for many years :)

~~~
glibgil
The toilet OP linked to is a real toilet experience. Flush and forget with no
exposure to what went down before you. These [http://www.xrunner-
venture.com/the-toilet/4586730377](http://www.xrunner-venture.com/the-
toilet/4586730377), [http://resourcesanitation.com/our-
concept/](http://resourcesanitation.com/our-concept/) are nothing more than
outhouses.

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vegabook
First world patronising Africa, again.

As if the minute amount of power produced by this shameless, transparent
attempt at viral marketing will ever recoup the cost of production of the
device itself, let alone the R&D budget or maintenance cost.

This is like a Toyota Prius with 10x worse environmental impact. Its biggest
impact is on the conscience of people who are predisposed, literally, to
believing bullshit, so that they can continue to eat diesel-ship-fuelled sushi
and fly on aircraft, a single hour of which will negate a lifetime of sitting
on an environmental toilet.

~~~
oilywater
People downvote you but there's definitely some truth there to find.

Thing about these projects is long-term gain. Maybe these toilets will pay off
in 20-30 years, they have to, if they want to be sustainable.

But yes, a single plane flight would negate all of the savings. It definitely
negates all of the energy you save by showering with cold water, by recycling,
by turning of the light.

It is definitely a gigantic problem when India, China, Africa turn into energy
hungry giants that already are Germany, USA, UK etc.

We'll see how it all will turn out to be, business seems as usual, hope that's
going to change fast.

[http://www.withouthotair.com/](http://www.withouthotair.com/)

A great book that describes how simple and easy it is to analyse
sustainability - purely by numbers.

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beau26
Interesting, a friend of a friend of mine is the founder of
[http://saner.gy/](http://saner.gy/)

They've been very successful in Kenya.

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teh_klev
From the last time around :

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10895347](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10895347)

