Gates foundation flushes out new thinking on toilets

A Chinese inventor and his solar toilet attracted the attention of the media and American venture capitals at a toilet fair held by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle this week.

Bill Gates, the world's leading private philanthropist, is focusing his energy on funding and encouraging scientists to develop a new type of toilet as part of his foundation's push to improve health in the developing world.

"China will see more than a hundred billion dollars of solar industrial upgrading in the coming two to three years," Ning Jing, guest professor at Shijiazhuang University of Economics said at the fair on Tuesday.