Eco technology on display in Tokyo
December 12th, 2008 by James
A video of Fuji TV looking at some of the products on display at an eco technology expo going on this weekend at the Tokyo Big Sight:
- The first product shown is a water heating boiler fueled by old newspapers. I’m guessing that burning blocks of dried newspapers must be more “eco” than using other fuel sources, but few details are given.
- The second product is a rather symbol plant watering system that uses recycled plastic bottles. One bottle filled with water and placed in the middle of the device provides about a week’s worth of water for flowers being grown in the attached plastic containers.
- Third is a special thin solar panel that only needs reflected/indirect light to power small devices. Two examples products using the technology are shown: a music box you can hang by a window and a clothes pin that lights up.
- The last product is an eco toilet. Instead of using the eight liters of water a normal toilet requires to flush, this toilet is hand crank operated. Absolutely no water is used, and apparently harmless bacteria inside the toilet break down poop and create non-stinky compost one can use to fertilize garden and house plants.
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James:
In the fourth bullet point, you mention 8 milliliters of water for flushing a toilet. That would be wonderful, but it is rather 8 liters.
Other than that, thank you for letting us know about this event. I will go and have a look over the weekend.
Eco products will only sell when they are convenient. Not many people want to deal with hand-cranked toilets and poop-decimating bacteria, no matter how eco-friendly they are. (Here, “eco” is intentionally ambiguous to apply equally to eco-systematically and eco-nomically.)
I was there today (at the Big Site) and it was amazing. All the big companies were there, from Nisshin (cup noodles) and Sekisui House to Mitsubishi MiEV, Subaru’s plug in electric car Stella, and Toyota’s Prius, plus Honda’s electric, hybrid, & fuel cell cars and scooters. I liked that Subaru indicated that its electric cars should be run on renewable energy (from wind power). Other displays from Panasonic/Sanyo had the latest in solar power. They had over 50,000 visitors on the first day, and it was packed today too (Friday). This is NOT some small NGO event (although lots of environmental groups are there too) but a major showcase of how advanced Japan is in this sector. Do visit Saturday if you have time!!