Pee may be the new green power

Or maybe that should be yellow power. In any case, in news my eight year old son will find terribly amusing, pee may be the new wave of the future when it comes to renewable energy.

Ohio University scientists have developed a new technology that may allow urine-powered cars, homes, and electronics a reality. According to reports, scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that could be burned or used in fuel cells using a nickel-based electrode. The Organic Consumer Association reports that Gerardine Botte, a professor at Ohio University says, “One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses.” and in a much funnier (but true) statement, “Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel.” It’s a little funny to think about, but seriously if you could harness urine to act as energy, we’d never run out. Plus, this is obviously a much cleaner fuel than gas.

Pee is based on hydrogen and the problem is that hydrogen can’t be easily stored or transported, not in a financially efficient way anyhow. Scientists already have found ways to bind hydrogen to water, which makes it easier to store and transport, but once you need to actually release and use said hydrogen it gets tricky and requires an expensive amount of electricity to do so.

The new answer – attaching hydrogen to nitrogen which allows the hydrogen to be stored and released more efficiently and in a more cost effective way as well. Botte notes that, “A fuel cell, urine-powered vehicle could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon. A refrigerator-sized unit could produce one kilowatt of energy for about $5,000, although this price is a rough estimate.”

Obviously this technology will need to be developed on a much larger scale and continue to be fine tuned, but if it works out maybe toilets will become the hot new commodity over oil wells. It’ll be interesting. What do you think of pee as energy?

[image via stock.xchng]