{"68520":{"#nid":"68520","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Solar Sanitation System Awarded $40,000 in Startup Chile Funding","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile much of campus melts in the heat and humidity of July,\nfive researchers will migrate south to winter in Santiago, Chile, to develop a\nstartup venture aimed at providing sanitation to remote and low-income communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESanivation was one of 110 companies awarded $40,000 from\nStartup Chile, a six-month Chilean government program encouraging\nentrepreneurial activity in the South American country. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019re trying to have a kind of Silicon\nValley in Santiago,\u201d said Andrew Foote, a 2011 civil and environmental\nengineering graduate, GTRI research scientist and member of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sanivation.com\/\u0022\u003ESanivation\u003C\/a\u003E\nteam. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESanivation began as a collaboration among the Georgia Tech\nResearch Institute (GTRI), \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ewb-gt.org\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Engineers Without Borders (EWB-GT)\u003C\/a\u003E, Emory\nUniversity and a Bolivian nonprofit. EWB-GT students have made two trips to\nBolivia to research and test prototypes of a latrine that kills disease-causing\npathogens using solar energy. The waste can then be used for crop fertilization.\nSanivation\u2019s research shows that using this type of waste as fertilizer can\nincrease crop yields by up to 50 percent.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn its current state, Sanivation has\n\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sanivation.com\/solar-latrine-technology\/\u0022\u003Etwo proposed products\u003C\/a\u003E: SanoLatrine and the SunSeat. SanoLatrine is designed for\nlower-income areas, while the SunSeat is for places with lower infrastructure\nin place, such as in mountains or parks. Both function on solar technology in\nplaces where conventional sewage treatment is often not affordable or feasible. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about Chile is that it\nhas both target markets \u2014 it has a lot of parks, between mountains and oceans,\u201d\nsaid Foote. \u201cWe hope to develop both products there.\u201d Sanivation President\nChris Quintero, a mechanical engineering major, said that the exact\nspecifications of the products might change along the way, but that the\nsanitation focus will remain.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFoote and Quintero will be accompanied\nby recent Tech alumni Sean Kolk and Emily Woods, as well as Nick van Vliet, a\nfriend and colleague from Emory. The team hopes to have its planning and\nresearch fostered by the hub of technology development and entrepreneurship created\nby Startup Chile. Quintero had intended to graduate from Tech in December, but\nwill now postpone that milestone for at least a semester to work on Sanivation.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m stoked about the team we have, and\nit will be exciting to meet so many other entrepreneurs and ambitious people,\u201d\nhe said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, students on campus will\ncontinue to research and work on the project from Atlanta. \u201cThe relationship\nbetween EWB-GT, GTRI and Sanivation will be integral \u2014\u0026nbsp;there are lots of\nways to collaborate there, and we\u2019ll have a support network and a group of Tech\nstudents engaged at home,\u201d Foote said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is not the first time the solar sanitation project has\nearned recognition recently. At the National Inventors and Innovators Alliance\u2019s\nOpen Minds competition in March, the group earned runner-up for the People\u2019s\nChoice award and first place in the event\u2019s video competition. It has also\ngarnered interest and attention from global health nonprofits.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere seems to be a lot of energy\nbehind sanitation now,\u201d Foote said, who mentioned that it was also discussed at\nthis year\u2019s World Health Organization conference. \u201cWe hope to come up with the\nimplementation plan and generate enthusiasm around Sanivation in Chile, and\nthen go into the fundraising stage.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team departs the second week of\nJuly and will post regular updates on its progress at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.sanivation.com\u0022\u003Ewww.sanivation.com\u003C\/a\u003E. \u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESanivation was one of 110 companies awarded $40,000 from\nStartup Chile, a six-month Chilean government program encouraging\nentrepreneurial activity in the South American country. \u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Sanivation was awarded $40,000 from Startup Chile, a six-month Chilean government program."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2011-06-24 09:42:48","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:37","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68526":{"id":"68526","type":"image","title":"Sanivation Team","body":null,"created":"1449177176","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:56","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14","alt":"Sanivation Team","file":{"fid":"193327","name":"sanivation_team.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sanivation_team_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sanivation_team_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":216208,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sanivation_team_0.jpg?itok=CRThj6GC"}},"68534":{"id":"68534","type":"image","title":"Sanivation prototype","body":null,"created":"1449177185","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:05","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14","alt":"Sanivation prototype","file":{"fid":"193328","name":"sanivation_prototype.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sanivation_prototype_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sanivation_prototype_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":321546,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sanivation_prototype_0.jpg?itok=FM5DobZD"}}},"media_ids":["68526","68534"],"related_files":{"248660":{"fid":null,"name":"Susan N. Thomas lab photo","file_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/susan%20lab.jpg","file_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/susan%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":393054,"description":null}},"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/sanivation.com\/","title":"Sanivation"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.startupchile.org\/","title":"Startup Chile"},{"url":"http:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/ewb-gt.org","title":"GT Engineers Without Borders"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12385","name":"ewb-gt"},{"id":"415","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"13487","name":"nciia"},{"id":"169372","name":"sanivation"},{"id":"169345","name":"solar latrine"},{"id":"169346","name":"sustainable solar sanitation system"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.shaw@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Shaw\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications and Marketing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}