Treehugger recently reported that there is a battery that runs on urine and has the ability to create enough of a charge to power a laptop for over four hours. Designed by a South Korean company, the MetalCell, which also runs on salt water, uses magnesium plates which react with sodium to generate a small amount of electricity.
This portable device is designed primarily for military use or when electricity is in short supply. The standard MetalCell model costs about $200.
So, if solar or wind isn't a viable option and you need a portable battery, you might want to keep an eye out for this. I say using it power my laptop would help mitigate the global impact of all this blogging and Facebooking.
Would you be willing to use your pee to power your iPad, phone or laptop?
15 comments:
Shit yeah!
There's gotta be a really good pun to be made about this...
If this is real. Then the world would soon smell like shit. By the way, this personal safety devices for women like us might interest you. Thanks and more power!
So, I have a few questions about this.
1) Reading the specifications, it only mentioned this battery as being powered by salt water. I can understand they might not want to put pee in their advertising. But has anyone actually tried it with pee?
2) This battery appears to work by physically consuming itself. So the consumed parts have to be replaced (every 90 - 120 hours of use I think). What's the expense and environmental impact of this? And how long is the entire unit operational?
3) The physical consumption apparently leaves behind a heavy metal sludge that would have to be carefully cleaned out of the battery. How is this disposed of and what are the environmental implications on that? What are the personal safety implications of cleaning out the battery?
4) The specifications show use with a laptop requiring two or three of these batteries run in series. So, it looks like just one would not be sufficient to power a laptop.
Of course, every power source has costs and benefits. This one seems designed for a specific use in the field rather than for every-day power generation, tho.
Sorry. I did not mean to post the last comment anonymously.
- tdmehlman
Heck yeah I would. I wish my pee were useful.
Nope, sorry. Mine's going on my rhubarb.
Yup. Definitely.
My thoughts first ran along the lines of tdmehlman. Even though I hate to be down on new ideas that show promise, this sounds like a very expensive disposable battery with a twist, unless I'm missing something. Does it "recharge" itself with a fresh batch of pee? Regular batteries are toxic enough. A really expensive toxic battery doesn't strike me as a big improvement.
Oh, and Nina, as the anonymous commenter after you pointed out, pee is already useful as nitrogen fertilizer. Dilute it with ten parts water and use it on your garden. No heavy metal mining necessary, and nothing to dispose of.
Of course I would! But I think it'd be just as easy (if not more easy) to use salt water.
Kate, thank you for sharing the pee to water ratio. I'll try it in the garden. =)
Were do you fill the battery. I don't knoe if I have pee to spare from fertilizing the compost.
Where do you find this stuff? Seriously though, I'd rather not.
Um, Crunch, April 1st was over a month ago.....
Although, genius idea...
@ Nina: your pee is useful, if you're stuck in a desert dying of thirst. As is your sweat for that matter..
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