Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Researchers take the piss with pee-powered liquid energy project

Bill Gates' cistern system uses your personal recharger

Boffins in Bristol have the perfect solution to the two most common late-night problems: finding somewhere to urinate and keeping your phone charged.

Liquid lab techs at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory have figured out a way to take power from your pee, using an array of cylinders containing electro-active micro-organisms to turn urine into electricity; enough to slowly charge your mobile.

The cistern-system is a part of a larger push to create the "next generation of sanitation technologies" funded by Big Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. You may remember when he drank boiled poo water – same sort of thing but from the front instead of the back.

They're not taking the piss either: the "urine-tricity" has gone from concept to reality in phase one with the Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) fed with real neat urine and shown to charge a commercially available Samsung mobile phone.

Now the team of whiz-kids is in phase two with plans to make it a real-world device, using Glastonbury Festival as a showcase. And let's be honest, the more urinals on stream at the festival, the better.

Splash back

Amazingly, this is not the first time that the Bristol Robotics Laboratory has gone pee-crazy. Back in 2013, we covered how they used essentially the same chemical reaction and urine to create what they hoped would be a "waste driven robot" by building an artificial heart capable of pumping urine into the machine's bacterially driven "engine room."

They only managed to get 2.5mW out of their piss-pour process back then, so the new golden shower of power is more than 10 times more effective, although the 40mW still falls far short of the 5W produced by your typical charger.

Sadly, our vision of Terminator-style urine-powered killbots menacing humanity or hanging around toilets begging for a drink never came to fruition.

But charging up your phone while relieving yourself and setting up the next visitor with your own personal recharger – well, that is a future we can get behind. Cheers! ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like