The Future of Your Urine

Three of the inventors with their invention.

Maker Faire Africa is an anual pan-African convening of inventors aiming to foster creativity and African independence.  This year, one proposal in particular is garnering a lot of attention.  Four young women  (between the ages of fourteen and fifteen) have constructed an apparatus that uses urine to power a generator.

The invention uses some energy to initiate the process wherein urea is separated into nitrogen, water, and hydrogen.  From there the hydrogen is purified and pushed into the gas cylinder and then is pushed into the generator.  Through this process, 1 liter of urine will provide 6 hours of electricity.

One liter of urine = 6 hours of electricity

While critics on the internet have doubted the effectiveness of the invention and have criticized the fact that the process still requires some energy to begin creating energy, it is important to acknowledge the success of this idea.  These young women have gotten together and created a system that uses bodily waste and turns it into something more productive.  This is important for both gender equality internationally and to shift away from the predominance of Western countries stepping into the Global South and continuing Western imperialism through aid agencies.  Simultaneously, it is moving away from the use of fossil fuels and natural resources for the creation of electricity.  Furthermore, this invention can be further developed into an even more successful product that can be mass produced and distributed across the world.  Perhaps we can even start using it in the United States to decrease our dependence on natural resources.

As an invention, this generator gives me hope for the future because it proves that eco-friendly inventions are being developed across the world and not just in the Global North.  It also gives me hope because it is brilliant in its ingenuity.  These four young women have created this as teenagers, which means they have their whole lives to continue developing it and other ideas.  Perhaps the fate of the world resides in the hands of these young girls who have obviously been working hard over the past few years and have something to show for it.