The Fuel Cell With A Special Secret

Helen finds out how some scientists at UWE are using something pretty unusual to power fuel cells in this new episode.

Is it possible to power a phone using human urine? Helen meets the scientists at UWE (University of the West of England) in Bristol who are taking human waste and using it as resource of power.

Microbial fuel cells, also know as biological fuel cells, are an amazing collaboration between nature and human engineering. The team at UWE are harnessing the potential of these cells by using human waste to generate renewable, clean energy.

This is an incredible and innovative project which they aim to trial in refugee camps and developing countries and, if successful, could transform the electricity access for people and technology in remote areas.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
1:02 Sugar powered Robot
2:25 Why urine?
3:49 Small & simple
4:52 Phone charger
5:56 Natural inspiration
7:14 How does it work?
8:40 How much energy?
9:23 Microbe houses
11:58 Pee power
14:18 Everlasting engineering
15:44 Less waste
19:24 Energy savings
20:41 Scaling up
23:18 How exciting

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