Female pee may be a boon for renewable energy :-)

[Carb0nBased 605]

This is something I found in connection with squat urinals at festivals in Europe, but doesn't really fit thematically in the Roskilde thread since it's not about peeing experiences. This article is about a squat urinal developed by two students at the University of Bristol for use at festivals, and it mentions the possibility of using the pee to generate energy:

https://develop3d.com/product-design/2022s-biggest-festival-hit-the-female-urinal/

It quotes one of the creator's comments about that:

“We are working with Pee Power who is an incredible company. They work on microbial fuel cells that eat up the urine and directly convert that to electricity,” says McShane.

“Women’s urine is more energy-rich than men’s, she goes on. Pee Power only trialled their technology with male urine. As they are the first company to create female urinals, working with Peequal will give them the unique occasion to test it on female urine."

It made me wonder why women's urine is more energy-rich. Aside from water and salts, which I can't imagine using to generate energy, the significant compounds in urine would be urea and the small amount of glucose that is not reabsorbed by the kidneys. The latter should be very dilute in non-diabetic people, probably not enough to generate energy, and I don't know of a reason why women should excrete more urea unless their protein intake is higher and/or they have more muscle turnover, in fact I'd have expected the opposite. In any case, this could be a way to generate just a bit more energy for festivals to use.

 

[CON2H4 612]

Damn. Renewable energy is my specialist field. I should know.

[oliver2 4,207]

13 minutes ago, CON2H4 said:

Damn. Renewable energy is my specialist field. I should know.

Well, now it’s not only a specialist field but a field you can squat and piss in!

[F0rester 160]

I've been curious for a few years why small hydro turbines can't be installed in urinals and other plumbing expected to only handle liquids. 

[CON2H4 612]

7 hours ago, F0rester said:

I've been curious for a few years why small hydro turbines can't be installed in urinals and other plumbing expected to only handle liquids. 

How much energy would you get though?

E=ηmgh

Assume m=0.3, g=10 and h=1 and η=0.9.

Then we have E=2.7J

Clearly not a lot, and that's assuming that the liquids fall as much as a meter.

I suspect also, given the resulting velocity loss, that you would then have to pump the fluid harder to get it to where it needs to go. Ergo, really not worth it.

[Carb0nBased 605]

23 hours ago, CON2H4 said:

How much energy would you get though?

E=ηmgh

Assume m=0.3, g=10 and h=1 and η=0.9.

Then we have E=2.7J

Clearly not a lot, and that's assuming that the liquids fall as much as a meter.

I suspect also, given the resulting velocity loss, that you would then have to pump the fluid harder to get it to where it needs to go. Ergo, really not worth it.

I agree that the tiny amount of energy from this would never be even close to being worth the cost of keeping such a device running. Some people, especially those living "off grid", have small hydroelectric stations on creeks in their backyard, which seem to be economically worth it to use, but those have much higher flow and run constantly.

[Foobar 717]

On 7/15/2024 at 1:44 AM, Carb0nBased said:

It made me wonder why women's urine is more energy-rich. Aside from water and salts, which I can't imagine using to generate energy, the significant compounds in urine would be urea and the small amount of glucose that is not reabsorbed by the kidneys. The latter should be very dilute in non-diabetic people, probably not enough to generate energy, and I don't know of a reason why women should excrete more urea unless their protein intake is higher and/or they have more muscle turnover, in fact I'd have expected the opposite. In any case, this could be a way to generate just a bit more energy for festivals to use.
 

I'm curious about this too. I'd love to know what makes women's pee more energy-rich.

All the components in urine that AI says could be used for energy are either equal or lower.

I just think everyone should get to create peelectricity, regardless of differences in urine composition.

[whiz kid 200]

On 7/22/2024 at 1:55 PM, Foobar said:

I'm curious about this too. I'd love to know what makes women's pee more energy-rich.

All the components in urine that AI says could be used for energy are either equal or lower.

I just think everyone should get to create peelectricity, regardless of differences in urine composition.

She didn't really back up that assertion at all and those of us who noticed are now scratching our heads.  A girl's kidneys should work the same as a man's and aside from a few trace amounts of male vs. female hormones, the urine should theoretically be indistinguishable.