The golden shower that most of us let loose first thing in the morning might have far more beneficial properties than we originally thought – and if theories are proved right, this would mean that the word ‘waste’ might not longer be appropriate to describe one’s urine. After all, scientists might actually stumble upon an efficient manner to obtain “useful” levels of power from one’s urine. Yes sir, research is being conducted by scientists over at the University of the West of England (UWE) which is located in Bristol, where their experiments involve producing electricity from urine.
It is said that in a research paper, these group of scientists are working on the viability of urine as a fuel for Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) – and if proven successful, this would make it a world first. So far, initial tests have proved to deliver positive returns, producing tiny amounts of energy, although additional research (and obviously money) would be required for it to deliver “useful” levels of power.
Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos, one of the brains behind the good work that is done here, said that he “was excited by the potential of the work”. MFCs are said to hold similar bacteria that can be found in soil, and other alternative places include the human gut or waste water from sewers. Who knows? If this field advances rapidly, you might soon pee into your electric car first thing in the morning to get it moving…