When push comes to shove, as they say, and Newton’s second law comes into affect, who would expect to find within their toilet something greater than a jewel.  Virginia Gardiner did, and what came next may shock you more than disgust you the next time you consider your own excrement as the pre-cursor to a meal rather than the byproduct.  She has managed to create an affordable system that will actually turn a person’s feces into bio-fuel that can be used anywhere in the world. Known as the Loowatt, this portable toilet, pictured here, not only converts feces to usable bio fuel, but is more valuable than any jewel you would expect to find within the many parts of the third world.

The next time you sit, on the toilet perhaps, ponder the significance of a jewel in comparison to human feces, and know now a pirate can be proud of more than one thing coming from his booty.  A Joule, pronounced the same as jewel, is actually a single unit of energy, and in many parts of the world, without the means to facilitate either, draws no more relevance than a toilet. But now, with Virginia Gardiner’s invention, one can actually start the preparation of a meal right where they left off with the last, using the bio fuel generated by the Loowatt to cook it.  While many of us who are reading this have no reason to consider any use of this contraption if the thought alone provokes us, we can at least appreciate the beautiful design made from ninety percent horse dung.

This incredible piece of engineering, combining human waste with intelligence, is indicative of the functional creativity that is in a human’s mind. So, if you ascribe yourself with words like sustainable and eco-friendly, practical or   revolutionary, there might be no better way to prove yourself than investing in a system like this. But what do you really think about adopting a system like this personally? Is there something to a world envisioned by Virginia Gardiner, or is this too forward a concept because people haven’t quite gotten comfortable with their number two rituals?

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