Eleanor Goldberg/Huffington Post
They say necessity is the mother of invention and when close to 2 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water, a group of university graduates decided to change that in a creative way.
In Kenya where many people use water contaminated by fecal matter, a new company is hoping to take human waste and turn it into briquettes for cooking and heating homes. (Photo: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)
Sanivation, a mon protfit co-created by Emily Woods provides toilets to people in need. They then collect the waste and treat it with solar energy. The end result is an affordable briquette that can be used for cooking and heating homes– without the smell you would expect from human waste.
These briquettes burn longer than traditional charcoal and emit less carbon monoxide, making it better for the environment.
The process also drastically cuts down on deforestation, since the coal supplants firewood.
Sanivation hopes to reach over 300,000 people in the next few years with their affordable and eco-friendly system. (Photo: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)
Last April, with funding and support from the CDC Sanivation launched a pilot 3 month program at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Over 30 toilets and 300 people took part in Kenya, where 170,000 people live. At the moment, the briquettes are being hand pressed but with an increase in demand, they are seeking investments to be able to mechanize the process, enabling them to produce 1 ton of briquettes an hour.
To find out more about this innovative idea, click here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/poop-cooking-fuel_n_6940964.html
