I need a pee

[StuUK]

http://news.sky.com/story/1680496/1-fuel-cell-creates-electricity-from-urine


Beats the Batteriser 

[EEVblog]

A single microbial fuel cell can generate two watts per cubic metre, enough to power a mobile phone. The team is now looking at how to increase the power output with design tweaks.

That's a lot of piss!
Infinitely better off cranking a generator.

[StuUK]

its gets easier to produce quickly as you get older but it'll need to be one hell of a design tweak...

[digsys]

MAN ! I could power a small town !! :-)

[EEVblog]

1.5L of unrine / day / person would require 666 people a day to charge one mobile phone @ 2W
Practical much?

[rgawron]

Might be useful in countries with high beer consumption

[RGB255_0_0]

The smell though

[Wilksey]

It would be like charging your mobile at a music festival!

[Ian.M]

Just imagine the corrosion on all the connectors!  They'd be like the green & crusty pipes on an old pub urinal.

[StuUK]

And now for a number 2

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/plans-more-poo-powered-buses-bristol-bath

[AndreasF]

Here's the full paper (open access) for anyone who's interested.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468616301141

[ez24]

Seems the British are world leaders in 1 and 2 uses.   Maybe they will import it from the US, we have plenty.

[mtdoc]

1.5L of unrine / day / person would require 666 people a day to charge one mobile phone @ 2W
Practical much?

Nah - we can do better. I see a new IndieGogo campaign ---  Along the lines of the Airing's "microblower" - why not a micro-micro hydro turbine that harnesses the energy from the stream of one piss to charge a cell phone?   I bet the young guys who can take the bark off a tree could even charge 2 phones at once!   Just need a catchy name and a slick marketing campaign..     Hmm - I think I'll go file the patent now....

[edy]

Another catchy general-population friendly science news story "blurb" for daily consumption. Every day we hear of another one of these click-bait type research developments because the papers and online sites need something to fill their pages. The more bizarre it sounds, the more people will view it.

While it may be of scientific interest, the practical use of this research will likely never actually be used for electricity production.

Nevertheless, the science may feed into research on urinalysis, detoxification by bacteria, fertilizer development, waste treatment, biochemical processes, and other more practical developments. It's often the side benefits (however mundate they may be to the lay population) that will be profitable and practical.

Generating electricity from urine for practical reasons other than science-fair type stuff? I don't think people in poorer parts of the world are going to find any use for this.... But the side-benefits in other areas of research.... 

To me it sounds as practical as generating electricity from a potato:

[Cerebus]

I need a pee

Do you also need some 'oze?

[Cerebus]

1.5L of unrine / day / person would require 666 people a day to charge one mobile phone @ 2W
Practical much?

Have you considered that the folks at Sky News might not have the technical competence to know how big a cubic metre is? The strapline on the article says 'miniature' fuel cell so I suspect that Sky turned cc or ml into 'cubic metre'. Given Sky New's grasp of the issues in politics or even of the simple truth, I suspect any units other than 'football fields', 'jumbo jets', 'olympic swimming pools' or 'elephants' might be beyond them.

[RobertoLG]

And now for a number 2

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/25/plans-more-poo-powered-buses-bristol-bath

SH!T that's a new one 

[Ian.M]

They plan to introduce the poo-buses on routes where there is lower air quality.
Would that be so the passengers don't notice the smell?

[RobertoLG]

so...you pay the ticket taking a dump? a fart must be a bonus then

[NiHaoMike]

1.5L of unrine / day / person would require 666 people a day to charge one mobile phone @ 2W
Practical much?

Didn't one of the Mythbusters pee 1.5L all at once? I'm sure they didn't wait a whole day to get that.

There is, however, a very practical way to use urine to make usable energy. Mix it with water to make fertilizer (if it's not mixed, it actually harms plants and can be used as weedkiller...), grow fuel crops with it (something high yield like switchgrass, not the greenwashed "ethanol corn"), then harvest the crops to make biofuel with. Growing food crops using that process also works but the (not very well justified) "yuck" factor sort of gets in the way...