Bill Gates microwaves poo to upgrade bog standard lavs

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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 16, 2012 | 1 min read

Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates may be flush with cash but this has prompted the software mogul to contemplate flushing of a different kind - toilets.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has sponsored a Reinvent the Toilet fair which has been showcasing a range of novel designs for the humble khazi in a bid to improve sanitation.

These include a microwave loo that turns effluence into electricity and a design which transforms excrement into charcoal.

A team from the California Institute of Technology ultimately won the contest with a solar powered contraption that did away with running water and converted its contents into hydrogen gas and electicity instead.

Speaking of his selection Gates said: “We couldn't be happier with the response that we've gotten.”

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