SCIENTIST SAY ‘CLEAN’ URINE ENERGY COULD BE AVAILABLE IN SIX MONTHS

Remember that time your buddy got really drunk and decided to be a jerk by urinating in your truck’s gas tank? Well, it turns out that in the future, he may actually be doing you a favor — but you should still probably look for some new friends.

According to scientists at Ohio University, urine-powered cars, homes and personal electronic devices could be available as soon as six months from now. No joke.

Using a nickel-based electrode, the scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that could be burned or used in fuel cells. “One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses,” said Gerardine Botte, a professor at Ohio University developing the technology. “Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel.”

Pee power is based on hydrogen, the most common element in the universe but one that has resisted efforts to produce, store, transport and use economically.

Storing pure hydrogen gas requires high pressure and low temperature. New nanomaterials with high surface areas can adsorb hydrogen, but have yet to be produced on a commercial scale.

Chemically binding hydrogen to other elements, like oxygen to create water, makes it easier to store and transport, but releasing the hydrogen when it’s needed usually requires financially prohibitive amounts of electricity.

By attaching hydrogen to another element, nitrogen, Botte and her colleagues realized that they can store hydrogen without the exotic environmental conditions, and then release it with less electricity, 0.037 Volts instead of the 1.23 Volts needed for water. [Discovery Channel]

I don’t really understand any of the science behind this, but cheap energy that can be mass produced is always a bonus.

Of course, if it means everything will smell like urine, that’s not so much a bonus. So hopefully that won’t be the case like other energy sources that use waste products.