I have heard of crazy renewable energy sources, but human waste has to be the craziest. Four Nigerian girls have made an electric generator which runs off of urine. What is crazier is they are in their early teens.
The generator takes one liter of urine and turns it into 6 hours of electricity. The process works because of the hydrogen in urine. The urine is put into an electrolytic cell then is purified using a water filter. This energy concoction is put into another cylinder with liquid borax which turns it into pure hydrogen. Cool right?
When will it be on the market?
I don’t think it would ever be on the market since hydrogen is highly flammable. The thought of using pee to generate electricity does not sound clean to me. I can see it now, rows and rows of urinals with signs saying “Don’t waste your waste.” I guess this is where clean energy gets dirty.
I say this not to poke fun at a great invention. There is a market for it. Any place without electricity would benefit from having one of these generators. Just think of all the people without power after Superstorm Sandy. I know I would have used it to make a cup of coffee or charge my phone. It still is one of the weirdest ways I have heard of to generate electricity.
Would you use a urine-powered generator? Leave a comment and let me know.
Donny Eisenbach
Donny has been writing about the deregulated energy markets since early 2007. His knowledge has helped consumers lower their electricity cost.
Leave a Reply