Actually, these have been around for a long time. They did manage to make them sound awfully high-tech and menacing, though.

"Cottage Water Systems" has a mention that the incinerating toilet can be used, in well insulated cottages, for the primary heat source. During a cold snap, just pass out the ex-lax.

Hey, they're electric now! We had these when I worked in Antartica back in 1992, only it was propane powered. At the end of the 'day' someone clamped the metal cover over the hole, locked the door, and hit the ignition switch, whereon the two tanks would kick in with a big whoosh and four hours later you had nothing but a tiny box of ash.

Since the other option was carrying a full "S" box on your lap for a 30 minute helicopter ride, hoping with every breath that it didn't leak, we were pretty excited about the inferno toilet.