Pee Power! The Future Alternative Fuel
Solar powered cars? Yaaawwwnnn… Corn the future of automotive fuel? Yeah, right. Here at Automopedia we have tracked down the best in future petrol alternatives – your own urine. That’s right kids, don’t flush that pee down the toilet, wiz it right into a fuel intake. Garardine Botte, who spends a lot of time surrounded by jars of pee-pee, has invented a electrolyzer to extract hydrogen from the bodily fluid. It uses “a nickel-based electrode to extract hydrogen from urea (NH2)2CO, the main component in urine” according to Wired Magazine. Hydrogen molecules in urea are bounded less tightly then in water, making them more easily accessible.
Unfortunately, this is not as easy as going to the bathroom in your gas tank each time mom stops at Sheetz. One of hydrogen’s biggest hassles to use as fuel is the amount of energy needed during production. And then, of course, you have to distribute it. Mz. Botte’s invention eliminates problems of size and spacing normal hydrogen-fuel cell units take up. Honda’s Clarity has a huge tank located in the rear to convert hydrogen into electric power. Botte’s creation is about the size of a CD case. And you never really need to worry about running out of “gas” – “your body produces two to three liters of it each day, and it is the most abundant form of waste on the planet.” Botte also speculated pee-powered autos could be capable of a 60 mile per gallon range, based on current alt-fuel technology.
“The electrolyzer would have to pull energy from a power source like a battery in order to produce hydrogen for a fuel cell.” One idea bouncing around would be connecting it to roof-top solar panels, similar to the 2010 Toyota Prius. This could power up to 40% of the pee-fuel energy transformation process. Garardine has been working with Department of Defense R&D to develop electrolyzer technology for military use. Because all new technologies are used primarily in war and pornography…we’ll leave that final thought open to our reader’s interpretations.
Source: Wired (Thanks Haley!)
At first i couldn’t believe it, until a couple of hours ago that I end up out of gas!!! With this read I thought well what the hell let’s try it!!! And it work dude it really do!!!! I got home safely!!! Really unbelievable!!! It was unreal!!!
Jan 15th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
[...] It has been an interesting week in Detroit at the 2010 North American International Auto Show – we witnessed more dance routines, cool concept autos and some empty booths. Everyone had their very own Hybrid or Electric Vehicle to show off, though we are still waiting patiently for that pee powered car. [...]