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Gee Whiz! Urine can be used to power things!
Turning urine into electricity? Piss off, what are you, some sort of modern-day, Hipster Jesus? Is what you might think when you are told that wee can be made into power.
But this isn’t one of David Blane's attention seeking magic tricks, scientists at Bristol’s robotics lab have done just that!
Electro-active microorganisms are collected and are used to feed off things they find in the urine, creating electrons as a by-product which turns into electricity! This electricity can be used for things that don’t need huge amounts of power like lights and charging phones.
Specially designed toilets will be taken to this year’s Glastonbury to collect as much urine as possible and to test out the prototypes. So for once festival goers might make the effort to get their wee in the actual toilet instead of all over the walls and floor.
However, as well as a great way of saving the environment, the ultimate aim of this experiment is for people in third world countries and women’s refugee camps who can’t afford to pay for electricity, to be able to use this as an alternative way of powering things.
Despite this news being a great positive step for science, technology and the environment, there still isn’t really an excuse for dropping your phone down the toilet. Don’t deny it, we have all been there!
