It is hard to read the news or turn on the television without noticing a new story on global warming and then hearing great ideas to “go green.” We’ve seen light bulb innovation in the form of CFL’s, solar panels being used for alternative forms of energy and massive changes to automobiles through the use of hybrid vehicles. These are all great steps forward but there’s still one relic in our homes that remains greatly unchanged–the toilet. Sure, we’ve seen the gallons-per-flush specifications for toilets decrease in an effort to save the water our civilization greatly depends on but I’m not convinced this is enough.

To really save water with toilets, manufacturer’s need to devise a hybrid toilet that mixes the water-saving technique of the men’s urinal with the traditional toilet. The urinal is a brilliant water-saving device because a lot of water isn’t needed to rinse away the waste. Why isn’t the same true for toilets?

Unless a user is using the toilet for solid waste, a bowl of standing water is completely unnecessary and wasteful. I propose that toilets by default remain empty or contain a very small amount of standing water at the bottom. If the waste is not in a solid form, a quick rinse similar to that of a urinal will prepare the toilet for its next use. If the user is going in for a more substantial visit to the bowl, a button on top of the toilet could be pressed to add more water and thus bringing the toilet back to its traditional form.

Imagine The Water Savings From This Simple Modification!

I would assume that one in every six visits to the bathroom are going to require the toilet to have the full volume of water. For those other five, the amount of water savings per person would be substantial! Now multiply that by the population in the United States and we’re up to a great deal of water being saved daily.

What If People Refuse To Use It?

Even if this innovative toilet were released tomorrow, I for one would not install one in my home. It would be a big ordeal to replace my standard toilets with the new one for the benefits of water savings. However, a new market would be created with new home construction. The real bread-and-butter would come in the form of corporate use. New office buildings could be outfitted from day one with the new toilets to ensure that the entire workforce is saving water. I could imagine that state governments would even mandate the use of these hybrids in all new construction.

What Do You Think? Would It Work?

This is one of those off-the-wall ideas I’ve been thinking about for quite some time now and it sounds very feasible. What do you think? Would you mind using the hybrid toilets? Let me know if I have a great idea or I’m just way off base.