New toilet innovations: Greywater, dual flush, and wacky Japanese options
We're on Episode Six of the Urinal Diaries, kids! Can any of your other lj friends brag that they have nine entries under their urinals tag?
I thought not.
Inspired by an entry about keeping the yellow mellow over in brdgt's journal, I did some research on modern toilet innovations.
Dual flush toilets
Dual-flush toilets were invented in 1980's Australia under a government grant. Bruce Thompson of the company Caroma developed the first dual-flush toilet, with two buttons and flush volumes (11.0 liters and 5.5 liters). One challenge lay in redesigning the bowl shape to make sure less water could still remove the waste. Thompson's Duoset toilet saved 32 000 liters of water a year per household when it was tested in a small South Australian town. Caroma's success led to legislation in every state but NSW to make dual-flush toilets compulsory in new buildings. In 1994, the company completely redesigned the toilet in stylish porcelain and cut the water volume in half, to 6 liter and 3 liter options.
I did find one review that said a manual brushing was needed any time someone did #2 in a dual-flush model. The review suggested that there be a lever to add water to the bowl when the user expects to go #2.
A Canadian study suggests that for a single family dwelling, a $300 dual-flush toilet will have a payback period of approximately 8.5 years in water cost savings.
Those so inclined can do a green retro-fit of their standard American toilets with this DIY kit.
AQUS from WaterSaver Technologies
The AQUS System is a new and innovative water saving device that reclaims greywater from bathroom drains and reuses it in toilets. The greywater is disinfected and filtered, and the resulting savings benefit water conservation initiatives. According to the manufacturer, AQUS can reduce metered water usage in a two-person household by about 10-20 gallons a day - or approximately 5,000 gallons a year. In addition to conserving water, AQUS reduces water consumption charges and wastewater treatment fees.
According to treehugger.com, the system retails for about $200, and has a lifespan of 10-12 years, with a payback of about 4 years, depending on local water and sewage costs. It is not compatible with dual-flush systems, and does require chlorine disinfection tablets.
Fancy Japanese Toilets
This is a wireless toilet control panel for a Japanese toilet with 38 buttons. This photograph is from a Toto showroom. In normal operations, with the lid lowered, the user only has 18 buttons to choose from.
Some features:
Many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of being heard by others during urination. To cover the sound of bodily functions, many women flushed public toilets continuously while using them, wasting a large amount of water. Education campaigns failed, so in the 1980's, the Sound Princess was introduced. After activation, the device creates a loud flushing sound similar to a toilet being flushed. This device is now routinely placed in most new public women's rooms, and many older public women's rooms have been upgraded.
A closing note on urination
In Germany, a product called the WC Ghost is designed to shame men into sitting down to urinate. Every time someone raises the toilet seat, the "ghost" speaks and warns the visitor that the seat should be put firmly back down. The voice, which assumes it is addressing a man, gives one of a series of warnings.
On one model, a stern female voice says: "Hello. What are you up to then? Put the seat back down right away. You are definitely not to pee standing up, you’ll make a right mess."
On another, a cowboy drawls: "Don’t you go wetting this floor cowboy, you never know who’s behind you. So sit down, get your water pistol in the bowl where it belongs. Ha, ha, ha."
The WC Ghost simply clips on to the underside of the toilet seat and a motion activator sets it off each time the seat is raised. Millions have been sold in Germany. Wikipedia suggested that it was part of a campaign to stop the sexist practice of standing up to urinate, but I can't find corroboration of that elsewhere on the Internet. Hmm. That seems like a good topic for brdgt's gender research.
I thought not.
Inspired by an entry about keeping the yellow mellow over in brdgt's journal, I did some research on modern toilet innovations.
Dual flush toilets
Dual-flush toilets were invented in 1980's Australia under a government grant. Bruce Thompson of the company Caroma developed the first dual-flush toilet, with two buttons and flush volumes (11.0 liters and 5.5 liters). One challenge lay in redesigning the bowl shape to make sure less water could still remove the waste. Thompson's Duoset toilet saved 32 000 liters of water a year per household when it was tested in a small South Australian town. Caroma's success led to legislation in every state but NSW to make dual-flush toilets compulsory in new buildings. In 1994, the company completely redesigned the toilet in stylish porcelain and cut the water volume in half, to 6 liter and 3 liter options.
I did find one review that said a manual brushing was needed any time someone did #2 in a dual-flush model. The review suggested that there be a lever to add water to the bowl when the user expects to go #2.
A Canadian study suggests that for a single family dwelling, a $300 dual-flush toilet will have a payback period of approximately 8.5 years in water cost savings.
Those so inclined can do a green retro-fit of their standard American toilets with this DIY kit.
AQUS from WaterSaver Technologies
The AQUS System is a new and innovative water saving device that reclaims greywater from bathroom drains and reuses it in toilets. The greywater is disinfected and filtered, and the resulting savings benefit water conservation initiatives. According to the manufacturer, AQUS can reduce metered water usage in a two-person household by about 10-20 gallons a day - or approximately 5,000 gallons a year. In addition to conserving water, AQUS reduces water consumption charges and wastewater treatment fees.
According to treehugger.com, the system retails for about $200, and has a lifespan of 10-12 years, with a payback of about 4 years, depending on local water and sewage costs. It is not compatible with dual-flush systems, and does require chlorine disinfection tablets.
Fancy Japanese Toilets
This is a wireless toilet control panel for a Japanese toilet with 38 buttons. This photograph is from a Toto showroom. In normal operations, with the lid lowered, the user only has 18 buttons to choose from.
Some features:
- Large flush for large size waste
- Small flush for small size waste
- Lower the lid and close the seat
- Lower the seat and raise the lid
- Raise both the lid and the seat
- Wash anus, regular
- Wash anus, soft mode
- Wash vulva.
- Blow dryer for drying the private parts
- Cyclic increase in the nozzle pressure for a massage of the anus
- Some models play music to relax the user's sphincter (some Inax toilets, for example, play the first few tunes of Op. 62 Nr. 6 Frühlingslied by Felix Mendelssohn).
- The latest models store the times when the toilet is used and have a power saving mode that warms the toilet seat only during times when the toilet is likely to be used based on historic usage patterns. Some toilets also glow in the dark or may even have air conditioning below the rim for hot summer days.
- Another recent innovation is intelligent sensors that detect someone standing in front of the toilet and initiate an automatic raising of the lid (if the person is facing away from the toilet) or the lid and seat together (if someone is facing the toilet).
- Text explaining the controls of these toilets tend to be in Japanese only. Although many of the buttons often have pictograms, the flush button is often written only in Kanji meaning that users who are not well versed in the Japanese writing system may be unable to flush the toilet except through random button pressing. So these toilets can be regarded as advanced in the sense that they are well featured, but remain unusable for some foreigners.
- Recently, researchers have added medical sensors into these toilets, which can measure the blood sugar based on the urine, and also measure the pulse, blood pressure, and the body fat content of the user.
- A number of curious users press the bidet button while watching the toilet to see its mode of operation, and promptly receive a jet of warm water in their face. Control logic has been added to a pressure switch in the toilet seat, so the bidets now operate only if there is pressure on the seat, indicating that the seat is occupied.
Many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of being heard by others during urination. To cover the sound of bodily functions, many women flushed public toilets continuously while using them, wasting a large amount of water. Education campaigns failed, so in the 1980's, the Sound Princess was introduced. After activation, the device creates a loud flushing sound similar to a toilet being flushed. This device is now routinely placed in most new public women's rooms, and many older public women's rooms have been upgraded.
A closing note on urination
In Germany, a product called the WC Ghost is designed to shame men into sitting down to urinate. Every time someone raises the toilet seat, the "ghost" speaks and warns the visitor that the seat should be put firmly back down. The voice, which assumes it is addressing a man, gives one of a series of warnings.
On one model, a stern female voice says: "Hello. What are you up to then? Put the seat back down right away. You are definitely not to pee standing up, you’ll make a right mess."
On another, a cowboy drawls: "Don’t you go wetting this floor cowboy, you never know who’s behind you. So sit down, get your water pistol in the bowl where it belongs. Ha, ha, ha."
The WC Ghost simply clips on to the underside of the toilet seat and a motion activator sets it off each time the seat is raised. Millions have been sold in Germany. Wikipedia suggested that it was part of a campaign to stop the sexist practice of standing up to urinate, but I can't find corroboration of that elsewhere on the Internet. Hmm. That seems like a good topic for brdgt's gender research.