What could be more sacred than how North Americans “go to the washroom”? Well finally someone in North America has begun to market the fabulous japanese style toilets with their automatic washers and dryers built right into the toilet seat.
Personally, I love the things! Yet the question begs, are Americans ready to change the ways of generations who have been used to that swedish invention, the toilet paper roll? I believe this toilet’s time has come. I am sure it will take some adjusting to north american realities (ie. size) yet this amazing invention will surely catch on. It will be disruptive at the high end first and then you’ll find hotels using commercial versions like they do in Japan, if only for the cost savings of the paper rolls (roll cost, storage cost, labor cost to replace,etc…).
So how does this relate to solar? (you knew I’d bring it back here eventually!). Well it all has to do with how much we can expect people to change their habits to accomodate the convenience (or inconvenience) of a new technology, whether a solar charger or a toilet. I was amongst the first to market portable solar chargers for AA batteries back in 1999. Have they caught on yet? Not really! Why? Because we are still not ADDING SUBSTANTIAL VALUE to the experiences in which people may need these things (ie. camping trips) at a cost where they believe it has that valuable “je ne sais quoi” to be worthy of purchase. In other words, we are still not at the point where the cost-benefit analysis has turned in solar’s favor when it comes to portable power. People still will go buy a bunch of AA batteries to power their flashlights or radios rather than bring along a flexible or foldable solar charger, at a cost of at least $100US to recharge their devices. And with camping trips shortening each decade (our friends at Coleman tell me that its down from an average of 10 days to just over 4-5, then the real value of solar “disruptive technology” is changing from the ability of masses to charge devices in several days to the ability to charge them “as they live their experiences”. In the end it comes back once again to lasting value and our ability to enhance the lifestyle of our customers.
I will sit on my seat on this one :), until they invent the toilet seat which holds my daily newspaper and changes the pages upon command…
Sass