From Mercola.com

Pee powered batteries are already on sale in Japan and urine-powered cars, homes and personal electronic devices could be available in six months.

Using a nickel-based electrode, scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that could be burned or used in fuel cells. One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses.

One molecule of urea, a major component of urine, contains four atoms of hydrogen bonded to two atoms of nitrogen. If you place a special nickel electrode into a pool of urine and apply an electrical current, hydrogen gas is released.

A urine-powered vehicle could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon.

Source: MSNBC July 8, 2009

Dr. Mercola”s Comments:

Using urine as a source of fuel may sound like a bit of a stretch, but it’s actually quite ingenious. It’s based on the use of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe.

Hydrogen has been called “a renewable, versatile, simple sustainable domestic energy” because it can be produced from tap water to generate power for homes and cars.

However, one of the hurdles facing this alternative fuel source is that hydrogen gas requires high pressure and low temperatures to be stored. It becomes somewhat easier to store when it’s binded to oxygen to create water, but even then it still requires large amounts of electricity to be released.

The Ohio University scientists who developed the urine technology found that attaching hydrogen to nitrogen in urine allowed it to be stored without the strict requirements of ordinary hydrogen, and allowed it to be released with less electricity (0.037 volts versus 1.23 volts needed for water).

Ultimately they are working on developing a small-scale prototype for the average consumer; a urine-powered vehicle could travel 90 miles per gallon, and soldiers could have access to fuel even while on the battlefield. But the first prototype likely to be released, in as little as six months, could change the way modern-day farming works.

By collecting urine from livestock, which is right now a major source of pollution, farmers could produce more than enough energy to power their farms.

Are We Nearing the Beginning of the Hydrogen Economy?

The Hydrogen Economy is the term used to mark the shift from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas to hydrogen. The vision of a Hydrogen Economy is one of an unlimited source of fuel that would be used to generate energy without releasing carbon and other pollutants into the air.

As Darshan Goswami, M.S., P.E. said:

“Hydrogen has the potential to do for the energy revolution what the computer and the Internet have done for the information revolution. Fuel cells are considered the “microchip of the hydrogen age,” the key to abundant energy from secure, renewable resources.

Ultimately, fuel cells supplying homes, businesses, and industries could be linked to a national power grid allowing surplus power at one location to be transferred to areas experiencing power shortages.”

It’s clear that we have to stop this unnecessary reliance on oil and fossil fuels, and the Hydrogen Economy offers many advantages