In France, environmental firm Fournisser Energie is turning pee into electricity using living microbes that eat up urine. While the urine-eating microbes won’t be able to power up a whole city quite yet, they are able to output a few electrical watts per cell, which taken together can power up signs or re-charge cellphones.
Researchers have already tested it showing that the microbes emit enough electricity to heat up showers using only the urine of the users – hopefully they weren’t peeing in the shower though. Another test showed that an entire university was lit for days running only on the pee of its students.
The potential for this is awesome as it removes wastewater issues while providing electricity, which could be useful in third world countries and outdoor events.