Post date: Nov 09, 2011 8:38:3 PM
Biogas is one of many forms of alternative energies being promoted as the way of the future, but noone has yet done it in the style of Japanese toilet manufacturer, Toto. The company has created a stir with what it calls its Toilet Bike Neo, a motorcycle that runs on biogas and looks like a toilet on wheels.
TOKYO, JAPAN REUTERS - After 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) across Japan, Toto's toilet bike named Neo, received a warm welcome as it pulled into Tokyo, the final stop on its journey. It had begun its biogas-promoting odyssey more than three weeks earlier from Toto's company headquarters in Kitakyushu, stopping in Nakatsu, Kobe and Kyoto along the way.
Six riders had taken turns to carry the message through the countryside on a motorcycle built to attract attention. With a toilet for a seat, a giant roll of toilet paper mounted on the rear and an engine that runs on biogas, the message was clear - biogas is a viable form of clean, sustainable energy.
While part of the biogas used to power the bike cames from sewage, Toto public relations department's Kenji Fujita says the toilet served as a seat and nothing more. The fuel
was made from livestock refuse and household sewage, broken down and fermented to create biogas, which was then stored in the two tanks on the back of the bike.
The riders, he says, did not contribute to the fuel in the tank.
"The motorcycle carries two tanks which allow it to run for a total of 300 km at a speed of up to 70 km/h. It's a suprisingly nice way to travel." he said.
28-year-old Ichie Tanaka was one of the six riders.
"At first when I saw the bike, I was taken aback, but after riding the motorcycle, I found it quite interesting. It doesn't hurt at all and it's actually quite comfortable to sit on," Tanaka said.
Toto says the journey served a serious purpose. As a toilet manufacturer, the company says it's ideally positioned to promote the use of biogas as an alternative fuel. Toto has publicly announced what it calls the Toto Green Challenge, which aims to cut CO2 emissions from bathrooms in half by 2017. Toto say recycling human waste is a practical solution to the environmental problems caused by fossil fuels.
After more than three weeks of traffic-stopping attention, Toto believes it has come a long way toward achieving awareness of its goal. The toilet bike, they say, is no flash in the pan.