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Alternative Energies Title: Pee-powered "green" toilet to light up refugee camps LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A toilet that uses urine to generate electricity and can charge a mobile phone will soon light up dark corners of refugee camps after being tested by students in Britain. The pioneering toilet, the result of collaboration between global aid agency Oxfam and the University of the West of England in Bristol, uses live microbes which feed on urine and convert it into power. "Living in a refugee camp is hard enough without the added threat of being assaulted in dark places at night. The potential of this is huge," Andy Bastable, head of water and sanitation at Oxfam, said in a statement. The first toilet will be sent to a refugee camp within the next six months, and after testing will be rolled out more widely, initially in camps, but possibly also in other places without electricity, Oxfam said. "This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to use fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply," said Ioannis Ieropoulos, director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre and leader of the team that developed the toilet. Bastable and Ieropoulos say it is the sustainability of the technology - it just needs a plentiful supply of urine - that makes it practical for aid agencies to use the toilet in the field. "One microbial fuel cell costs about 1 pound ($2) to make, and we think that a small unit like the demo we have mocked up for this experiment could cost as little as 600 pounds to set up, which is a significant bonus as this technology is, in theory, everlasting," said Ieropoulos. The prototype toilet, conveniently located near the University of the West of England's student union bar, was successfully tested by students who found it produced enough electricity to power a light bulb. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 7. Why not just supply the refugees with your previous alt-energy gizmo? LF: Finally: A Wearable That Lets You Charge Your Gadgets by Jerking Off That way the refugees can pee and masturbate their way to happy self-sufficiency.
#2. To: TooConservative (#1) That way the refugees can pee and masturbate their way to happy self-sufficiency. Well I can't say that I ever tried it, but I imagine it must be pretty difficult to pee into a toilet while you have an erection...
#3. To: Willie Green (#2) Well, I never considered all that. Obviously you've given the matter some thought.
#4. To: TooConservative (#3) Only enough to answer your question.
#6. To: Willie Green (#4) Next up: "Poo-Poo Power!"
#7. To: Chuck_Wagon (#6) Next up: "Poo-Poo Power!" It's already a thing. I recall decades back reading about pig farms in South Africa running small diesel generators from methane generated from pig poop. There are other examples around the Third World in places like India. I know that at least some sewage treatment plants in America produce enough methane that they have burn it off by piping it to a smokestack.
Replies to Comment # 7. ...methane... I have (or used to have) a book on alternative energy. I wonder if I still have that book. Haven't seen it in years...
End Trace Mode for Comment # 7. Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
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