Certain practices have remained virtually unchanged over centuries. The cremation of the remains of the dead has received concerned over its high energy use and environmental impact, leading to the introduction of “flameless cremation” by the Glasgow-based company using the Resomation machine. Another practice that we take for granted, answering the call of nature, has attracted the attention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has funded the search for the toilet of the future and to improve sanitation in developing nations. Read more

Straits Times (19 August 2012):

Stillwater, Minnesota – A funeral home in the US state of Minnesota is offering a greener way to reduce the dead to ashes – “green cremation” or “flameless cremation”.

The Bradshaw Celebration of Life Centre in Stillwater has already processed the remains of 20 individuals using the so-called “Resomation” machine.

The process involves heating the remains at 149 deg C in a pressurised vessel containing a potassium hydroxide solution.

It takes around three hours and reduces the body to skeletal remains which are processed into a white powder which can be given to the family, like ash from crematoria.

But a key difference is that compared to traditional cremation, the green option produces a third less greenhouse gas, uses a seventh of the energy and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal.

Mercury from amalgam vaporised in crematoria is blamed for a proportion of airborne mercury emissions worldwide.

The first Resomation machine was installed at the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, Florida, which has used the new technology on 10 bodies, reported BBC News.

Retiree Stephen Page has signed up for the new cremation option at Bradshaw Celebration of Life Centre.

“I don’t want to be stuck in a cemetery somewhere with my body taking up space for hundreds of years,” he told the Star Tribune newspaper.

A green cremation – without any additional services – costs the same as flame-based cremation at Bradshaw’s – US$2,295 (S$2,850), reported Star Tribune.

“I think we’ve all talked more about green in the past few years,” said Mr Jason Bradshaw, vice-president and chief operating officer of Bradshaw Funeral and Cremation Services.

“As people look at their end-of- life options I think they’re weighing those options the same as others.”

The maker of the Resomation machine is optimistic about prospects.

Mr Sandy Sullivan, chief executive officer of Resomation, told BBC News he is now hoping to secure contracts to supply 10 to 15 more machines in the US in the near future.

Eight American states have so far passed legislation to permit the use of Resomation on their territories.

And while he says there is strong interest in Britain and Europe too – Resomation is a Glasgow-based subsidiary of Co-operative Funeralcare – similar enabling legislation is still needed.

Source: www.euro2012.straitstimes.com

By Rob C. Witzel for The Sun (19 August 2012):

No doubt tsunami warnings are sounding all across techville this fall has as rumors of an iPhone 5 and a smaller iPad continue to crest. However, until the supposed Sept. 12 Apple announcement, most tech news seems to have left the beach to merge with the coming wave.

While fellow tech kingpin Microsoft looks for its own wave of publicity with the imminent launch of Windows 8, co-founder Bill Gates created an interesting little splash of his own this week with the announcement of the toilet of the future.

Yep, you heard right. Bill Gates is involved in the development of the toilet of the future. It’s a solar one to boot.

Before you start wondering about how one of the world’s richest men could flush his fortune down the commode, it’s important to point out this is the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which seeks to lift the impoverished conditions of Third World countries.

When you look at the porcelain throne in terms of a tech device and not a place to play with one, you can see how an invention that has not fundamentally changed since the late 1700s is sorely lacking innovation.

Leave it to the man who took bits and bytes and brought about the modern computer era to deal with a much different set of bits and bytes in modernizing something far more important.

Gates, who has pledged his fortune to help eradicate world poverty, awarded $100,000 to the California Institute of Technology, which provided a working version of tomorrow’s john and transformed it into a self-contained solar unit that is able to recycle water and break down waste into renewable energy.

Subsequently, the foundation is lifting the lid on its deep coffers as it has pledged millions of dollars to see this and other finalists to fruition.

Source: www.gainesville.com