Pee Power

A group of African teenagers have come up with an idea so green that it’s yellow.

At the recent Maker Faire Africa event in Lagos, 14-year-old inventors Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola and Faleke Oluwatoyin; and Bello Eniola, 15, rolled out a generator that’s powered by urine.

Here’s how it works: urine is deposited into an electrolytic cell, which separates the hydrogen. And from there the hydrogen is purified before being pushed into a gas cylinder, and into a cylinder of liquid borax, which pulls the moisture from the gas.

One liter of urine provides six hours of electricity.

Despite the potentially dangerous properties of the extracted hydrogen, this type of invention is exactly what the world needs and can pave the way for future inventions that create energy out of the array of materials at our disposal.

Unlike other trade shows and fairs praising the next mobile app or dot-com invention that will help hipsters better use their smart phones, Maker Faire focuses on inventions and ideas that are crucial to this tumultuous continent’s survival into the foreseeable future.

Kudos to these teens, whose potential for brilliance can only flourish if they stay in the game. And the implications for converting energy from wastewater treatment plants could be huge all over the world.

Among the dozens of Maker Faire Africa inventions were solar-powered ventilation systems, amphibious vehicles and inventions focusing on pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.

And this idea can help us all think bigger as a society. It’s only a matter of time until one of us comes up with a way to power our vehicles using flatulence, which will truly be a win-win for the morning commute to work.