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Prototype ‘Bladdery’ Powered by Urine

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 09.17.05
Science & Technology (alternative energy)

peebattery.jpg

A while back we had the story on sheep urea reducing pollution in buses. Almost as long ago, tipster Angie A. gave us the nod about a battery that’s been developed, which can be fueled by urine. The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Singapore) was seeking a way to power portable medical test kits. They came up with a prototype battery that “produced about 1.5 volts, the same as a standard AA battery, and runs for about 90 minutes.” The electricity-producing chemical reaction can apparently also be activated by other so-called bio-fluids, such as tears, blood, and semen. Although not commercialised yet, the scientific community are already wide-eyed about the technology, suggesting it could be applied to laptop computers [a pee-see perhaps!], mp3 players, televisions, and cars. But that's way beyond what it was designed for - medical kits for remote areas — so let's get that working first, before we worry about Western gadgets. TH has come to this a little late, so you can now read WorldChanging’s take on it too. ::via The National Geographic

Comments (1)

This is very cool - the reason it's aimed at medical tests, I'm guessing, is that they would require very little power. While being able to produce 1.5volts is great, it says nothing of the actual power production capabilities of the PBattery.

I'm going to guess that there's not a lot of actual power or current available, but that will change with the scale of the batter. The idea of using urine batteries in mp3 players brings strange pictures to minde. Let's just hope there's an easy, convenient re-fill method that doesn't leave our gadgets smelly.

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