Bristol scientists use urine to charge mobile phone

Here is something else for ATS, urine powered mobile phones :

Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos, from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, claimed harnessing power from "the ultimate waste product" was "a world first". "One product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine," he said. "By harnessing this power as urine passes through a cascade of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), we have managed to charge a Samsung mobile phone." The scientists believe the technology has the future potential to be installed in bathrooms to harness the urine and produce sufficient electricity to power showers, lighting or razors as well as mobile phones.

Source BBC

I find this absolutely fascinating, we are starting to get somewhere in terms of thinking where we might just be able to get energy. Admittedly they say it is not perfect, you can text and browse the web but this technology can and will get better given time and funding.

"Making a call on a mobile phone takes up the most energy, but we will get to the place where we can charge a battery for longer periods. "The concept has been tested and it works - it's now for us to develop and refine the process so that we can develop MFCs to fully charge a battery."

So how does it work? clue is in the name of the microbial fuel cells (MFC's)

The electricity is a by-product of the microbes' natural life cycle, so the more they eat things like urine the more energy they generate and for longer periods of time.

In all honestly this technology could bring a lot of money to companies, if a toilet could be invented so it can filter urine out and dispose of what is essentially waste. Then we all could have mini generators of electricity in our homes. Port-a-loo cabins at events would be real money makers for instance.

This is actually a line of interest the team at Bristol are inquiring. These guys are really not taking the... nah I won't go there

So, what mobile phone network are you on? Pee-Mobile
Sorry couldn't help it.

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