According to Jonathan Kalan's article "Is pee-power really possible?" from the BBC Future, the researchers are developing their projects in order to deliver the electricity solutions from urine to the one-seventh people who can't access to the electricity around the world and for those in the developed countries. Although the challenging quest to reduce its cost and make a larger scale for community use, there are two experiments claimed that pee successfully generate electricity: the microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which contain bacteria to utilize organic matter and produce electrons that are converted into energy, and the GreenBox, a device that uses a jolt of electricity to split the urea into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and then captures the hydrogen to produce energy, which the first experiment is already succeed to generate energy for a smartphone and the latter for the wastewater management system.
Nowadays, the source of electricity is a controversial issue which people are debating on what is the best way to produce electricity with lowest cost, included less deforestation, more energy we produced and low harmful risks. Building dams had been recognized as the best resolution for most developing countries in the green revolution era, but this model is no longer to be effective according to the new researches. Also, although the nuclear power is friendly to the environment and be the most cleanest energy, however, some risks still be left and can be a threat for humanity.
According to the BBC News, after the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011, Germany government has announced that they will give up nuclear energy by 2022 (para 1). This means that the nuclear power is not the best electricity in our future anymore. Urine technology, in my opinion, not only change the way we produce electricity but also the way we use resources efficiently. We have nothing to beware of the pee tank as we deal with nuclear plants and have no need to cut down trees to build dams in order to generate electricity. We can make a better world by using resources that once we already used, which means that sustainable development can be real and we can inferred that this innovation would benefits for all. Anyway, before we have that great urine technology for large-scale community, we may have an opportunity to bring our pee bottle to Starbucks Coffee in order to using our labtop computers, charging our mobile phones or even use it as a discount in the near future!
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Reference
Kalan, J. (2014, March 12). Is pee-power really possible?. BBC Future. Retrieved March 17, 2014 from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140312-is-pee-power-really-possible
This is great news, but I think it will take a long time to experiment and make pee-power efficient and convenient to use.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Let's pray for that incredible stuffs!
DeleteWow...this is such an interesting idea!!! "we can make a better world by using resources that once we already used" (Trairatananusorn, 2014) That would be great, but the problem is we still have negative attitude towards our pee! Honestly, I'm still feel disgusted about my pee! and never think about bringing my bottle of pee to Starbucks Coffee!!
ReplyDeleteI think there would be someone who will play a joke with his/her friends by pouring pee in someone's glass - looks like an another nightmare? lol
DeleteThat sounds interesting! I know that people try to find a new way to produce electricity, but I've never known that one of these is using pee, the thing that I think the best thing to do with it is water plants.
ReplyDeleteHmm it sounds interesting. Could you tell me about your idea on how water plants will work?
DeleteIt's a big move if we can really generate electricities from urine and as you mention in the article above it's actually possible to do so. But what worried me is, If we aren't using the dam or nuclear plan and use urine instead how much urine have to be used? Is it going to be enough? I'm imagine it much be a lot. Hope that more research in this new innovation might improve the result.
ReplyDeleteYour idea is very thoughtful. I guess that we need some system that require our urine from everyday life. Maybe we can generate electricity in our house by ourselves without paying any bills! But I'm not sure and have to waiting for our genius' experiment.
Deletecomment on Yaowaluk. I think, before bringing your cup of pee to Starbucks, we also should be more concern about packaging. lol
ReplyDeleteOnce we have that packaging, I will invite you to have special "Chrysanthemum" tea also. lol
DeleteI'm still pinning my hopes on fusion energy - I think much more, at least ten times more - funding should be provided for this research.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and wish it would be launched as soon as possible!
DeleteHow creative! I have never thought that one day we would use our urine to generate electricity. I think it's a very good idea to change waste into something useful such as electricity.Moreover, it might be better than the nuclear power plant because it is less harm. However, what I am worry about is the smell. If we really use urine as our power source, I think we should have a good control to avoid urine leaking so that the surrounding community will not be affected by the unwanted smell or harmful bacterial.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It could be terrible if tanks of urine is leaked and flooded in the community. - -"
DeleteI heard that pee has benefit idea for use such as the prison will used their pee and poo for growing up plant. That make me interesting in their actual benefit of nutrient. This is a good news for preserved social!
ReplyDeleteYour information is very good and I don't know that before. Maybe the possibility to have poo-energy after the urine one? lol
DeleteIt's a good idea to produce electricity from such a waste thing like our pee, but I still feel uncomfortable to use this device in public. If this innovation is worked, so we can use the same method with any kind of liquid waste and extract hydrogen to be our energy right?
ReplyDeleteYour idea is awesome. I've checked something from the website and think it may interest you on the hydrogen power as well. Enjoy!
DeleteReference
Scott, J. (2013, August 16). Sustainable Energy Breakthrough: Hydrogen Fuel from Sunlight. Livescience. Retrieved March 19, 2014 from http://www.livescience.com/38884-sunlight-water-hydrogen-fuel-nsf-ria.html