The Living Fuel Cell Powered By Human Waste | Fully Charged

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.
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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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#StopBurningStuff #CleanEnergy #RenewableEnergy #FuelCell #FuelCellTechnology #BiologicalFuelCell #MicrobialFuelCell #EnergyConversion #LowCarbon #PeePower #UWE

[@fullychargedshow]

What do you think? Could microbial fuel cells solve issues of electricity in remote places? Tell us below...

[@0ooTheMAXXoo0]

Where wind and solar are not the best options.

[@barriepotter3753]

How would this fit in with a septic tank?

[@nc3826]

How about growing algae as food for electrocytes (such as from an electric eel)? Which stores energy and is separated by insulating layers thru. a biochemical process that pumps positive sodium and potassium ions out of the structure to discharge the electric.... .As a solar cell/ battery? Had the idea decades ago. So its good to see biomimetics is making progress in the energy field too. Even if none of this still seems like its not close to being commercialized, is it? Or how about using genetic engineering to combine them in one organism? Which would make it much more efficient , more reliable and far less complex to maintain so less costly too. But the ethics would be a complex issue, left for the future.

[@nc3826]

FC for remote places, how is it better than solar panels?

[@klaxoncow]

I think that, in case some Skynet AI does take over the world, we shouldn't be powering robots on excrement. They might take it the wrong way. No, wait. Thinking about it, maybe we actually should. Because then the Terminators can't wipe us out, as they need us to produce their "food" for them. Actually, I've changed my mind. This is a very cunning plan. The AI and robots will then have to keep us around.

[@Andysfishing]

Hellen has great energy and enthusiasm, I like her.

[@FishplateFilms]

And a great bod!! Someone had to say it..LOL But seriously, a very smart lady indeed and always a pleasure to watch! Gregg.

[@YounesLayachi]

She's absolutely mesmerising

[@NisseOhlsen]

@@FishplateFilms right on. What was she saying, again ?

[@FishplateFilms]

@@NisseOhlsen LOL.

[@Nemoticon]

She has great energy... how can we put it in a Fuel Cell?? xD

[@GreenJimll]

Another great science based episode with Helen. More of this sort of thing please!

[@79blustone]

I've noticed that Helen loves the natural cycle of our planet, whether its cycling an electric bike to produce electric, recycling car batteries so that the essential elements can be recovered and reused. Its the way our economy should be based upon- i.e if it can't be reused, recycled it shouldn't be made. Capitalist economy is finite, taking things from the environment basically removes a spoke from the natural wheel and this can only go on for a short time until the whole lot collapses. A circular environment to harness our needs but ensuring the right amount is used and replaced is essential. This type of battery system is pertinent if not more important then anything else. It just needs scale. Well done Helen. Your type of presentation is essential and a building block for the rest of the content on fully charged 👌

[@boltar2003]

This is the sort of program the BBC and C4 cant be bothered to produce any more unless Brian Cox is in it. Well done to the team who made this.

[@Budzombie420]

I only came because I'd had a Kona electric as a courtesy car and was instantly amazed by the experience of driving an EV. Next thing I know I'm subscribed, signed up to Patreon and watching wonderful science communicators like Helen presenting fascinating films about incredible, innovative technologies and inventions. Thanks a bunch Fully Charged!

[@CptSpears007]

Gives a whole new meaning to “taking the piss”

[@DavidS-wm9ud]

Exactly my thoughts, looks like a scientist doing that to a wonderful reporter ;-)

[@benjimc1]

was looking for this comment :D

[@shhhyouknowhoo3753]

Exactly! And in the future, could bring a whole new meaning to ‘full of shit’! At some point down the line, this could be a good thing, based on this fascinating line of research.

[@keelferm]

You got in before me! Damn

[@shhhyouknowhoo3753]

@@keelferm 🤣🤣👏👏

[@trendane]

I'd love to see this tested on the ISS. This feels like something which would lead to living ships in a thousand years.

[@louise6395]

oh wow.. never even considered that.. i'm still stuck at rest stops on motorways to power lights.

[@PeterJFlower]

Brilliant stuff. I'd love to see more coverage on this sort of thing, I find the whole subject facinating.

[@tomblewomble3369]

Not sure why but this is one of my favourite fully charged videos to date.

[@shhhyouknowhoo3753]

Isn’t it wonderful! I must admit that a whole lot of it went waayyyy over my head (must watch again), but it just made me feel so much better about everything. Especially after bloody COP. Wonderful, inventive, positive, enthusiastic geniuses! Love ‘em!

[@stephenlewis9159]

Bonus 'like' in case Helen had to suffer the smell. Fantastic efficiency. Eagerly awaiting the Red Dwarf episode where Lister is required to pee constantly to power Kryten (!)

[@jonathanpalmer5505]

That's amazing. I hope one day it can be scaled up to support treatment plants able to process what we currently consider the waste from towns and even cities. Here's hoping lots more similarly visionary projects can attract research funding.

[@GarrettDevitt]

I'm always kind of surprised this show hasn't been picked up by the BBC. Great content, great selection of presenters, really high production standards. Keep up the good work. 👍

[@begood6011]

It's absolutely at least as good as Tomorrow's World, I would argue much better. Helen Czerski, Tom Scott, Xyla Foxlin and Geoff Marshall - my dream science show presenter line up!

[@duncanstyles133]

It has to be used at the right temperature and the right “Pee H”.

[@TheGearHunter]

Exactly the kind of content I’ve always enjoyed FC for. More of the same please.

[@effyleven]

I know it is not the main topic here being discussed... ... but I too would like to say what an attractive and engaging presenter of information this young lady is. Her voice is a pleasure to listen to, and she addresses the camera in a most direct and enthusiastic style. Helen could make anything interesting.. of course it helps that she is full blown physicist, but all the same, Fully Charged is lucky to have her onboard.

[@davec2211]

If this can be scaled up and used initally water treatment plants it would be a matter of time before it becomes modular, great idea and research, hope it succeeds!

[@viplav76]

Amazing..! Exactly the kind of ideas and innovations we love seeing. Thank you @fullycharged

[@andreaturno4904]

Brilliant episode. Thanks for the work

[@billdale1]

OMG... have only begun watching this episode, and here's this lovely, articulate lady talking about powering my SMARTPHONE with URINE. It's a genius juxtaposition of wholly unrelated subjects... you know I am going to have to hear this out.

[@joekim4345]

fuel cells great for low energy specific applications. using waste to make energy is always interesting and great way to recycle. However, viability always depends on cost, infrastructure, volume production.

[@GrooveTasticThang]

Just looking at my dog running about, food I consume and birds flying you quickly realise that nature is so efficient at extracting and using energy. Introducing biology into the engineering mix for a sustainable future makes total sense. First steps

[@bbbf09]

2500 calories of fodd a day is approx 9Million Joule of energy. Burnt over 24hours it's just over 100 Watts of average continuous power. Almost of all it goes into keeping our body temperature up to 36C so our biochemistries keep ticking over. The amount of useful extra work done is pitiful - even if your dog may look energetic running about. So in fact from purely a physics point of view nature is fairly dreadful at efficient energy use. That doesnt matter though as the sun pours down hundreds of Petawatts onto the Earth - and no one is sending an energy bill to nature.

[@Knapweed]

"Trickle charge" takes on a new meaning.

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

Keep up these great and interesting videos Helen.

[@bryandavies6074]

Great project, great presentation.

[@ashtontechhelp]

Helen gets all the really interesting jobs.

[@snowtaku1]

Thanks a lot for another great episode, I am very happy to be a Patreon supporter of this channel :) Waiting for these amazing projects to scale up, it is worth noting that with only basic precautions, urine can be directly used as fertilizer for gardens.

[@AmerBoyo]

Long thought urine could be useful in creating hydrogen… didn’t think it could be used to create electricity directly. Wishing them good luck, would be amazing to see this tech scaled up!

[@daarmc5205]

Great to see you here Helen, I have watched your science docs over thelast number of years

[@timcam8713]

Very interesting technology, we will never be short of the food needed by the microbes.

[@boothtownmethodistsbooking4779]

Found this video very informative by Helen and the two gentlemen from Bristol Robotics. So down to earth (sorry for the pun) and easily understandable, this should be shown to all schools. I would agree with Bristol Robotics that this should be implemented around the world and bring human kind back close to nature. Such a wonderful video and thank you Helen, Bristol Robotics and Fully Charged. Keep leading the green revolution 🌍🌳🐞

[@Group51]

I wasn’t expecting this. But seems like a brilliant idea. I hope it works when scaled up. No time to lose!

[@billyray323]

Well done, you're making nature work in relation to our needs, with a possibility of reducing contamination

[@nithinsuresh1000]

Great presentation Dr Helen . Very interesting technology.

[@mikekyffin3779]

Another informative and well presented episode by Helen. Thankfully it was just urine whilst I was eating my dinner 😊Absolutely fascinating in terms of harvesting energy from nature. I have learnt something new today which is always good. Thank you to the team at Bristol Robotics. Thank you Helen and FC Team.

[@marc0523]

I went and watched a different video while I was finishing my sandwich, then came back to this one aftet.

[@peebeen]

Thank you Helen for this very interesting topic.

[@markmcdonald751]

Brilliant episode, great to see this kind of technology

[@321tryagain]

What a fascinating video, thank you.

[@juliankennedy]

I feel like we are only scratching the surface of fuel cells. This technology implies use cases far beyond just electric cars. Fantastic episode, Helen.

[@mickwilson127]

Downing St press office could power this entire project

[@GreenJimll]

No, I'm afraid they're usually taking the piss rather than supplying it.

[@greghilton7797]

Its always wonderful to see Helen.

[@examinerian]

"Welcome to Fully Discharged..."

[@PeaceChanel]

Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste and Thank You for All that you are doing for World Peace.. 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ 🌷 ☮️ ❤️

[@pinkelephants1421]

Imagine if India adopted this technology en masse in its cities to finally get to grips with sewage and stop India's rivers, many of which are supposed to be held sacred, from continuing to be amongst the biggest open air sewers in the 🌎.

[@Maker_of_Things]

Reminds me of the Arthur C Clarke Rama series of books. The Octospiders got their electricity from coin sized critters, they had engineered, that swam between an anode and a cathode, feeding at one and discharging electrons at the other.

[@orionstretch]

great work to the scientists and engineers working to make this an alternate source of power generation.

[@mikemellor759]

Hi Helen Your clarifications bring the science to life - thank you.

[@TheLoyalroyal1989]

I love when they go more into our energy future and the science involved in making that a reality, Helen does a fantastic job of presenting it as well. Hope we see more episodes like this in he future.

[@timreed663]

I love the idea and the future opportunities that this will bring, absolutely fascinating

[@RoyPounsford]

Excellent subject and presentation.

[@deanwellerassociates]

Outstanding technology. Well presented. Applied sustainable engineering of the future.

[@radleyg9486]

Excellent episode, thank you…

[@simon7790]

Bio-refinery! What a great concept!

[@justmechilling...]

Yes! I mentioned this to engineering with Rosie using sewerage to make energy! Mad max here we come! Well done!

[@ZappaTime]

Fascinating, great video report 👍

[@dcvariousvids8082]

Interesting and edifying, thank you.

[@mrfrog8502]

It's a lovely presentation for kids to get them interested in this field but not so much for adults. This is completely impractical. Urine will also stimulate growth of other organisms coating the cell electrodes and degrading it's performance over time. Cleaning requirements where not mentioned and I'm pretty sure the whole system analysis would show the amount of energy used to produce this setup far exeeds the energy this cell will ever produce.

[@recumbentrocks2929]

What an amazing planet we live on. Who would have thought the waste cycle could be used as a power source. Great video, keep them coming please.

[@mauricioweber8879]

Yes!! I hope we have this trend evolving fast!

[@IanBradbury]

I love this video. I really hope the team achieve great things.

[@benpaynter]

Really interesting episode. I used one of their demonstrators at Glastonbury a couple of years ago. Needless to say, plenty of fuel there.

[@jimadams6159]

Really interesting project with so many positive benefits for all life not just us humans.

[@BrunyeeSalers]

Stunning

[@durwoodmaccool890]

Good job on talking about phosphorus recovery. Really cool episode.

[@arkitecofficial]

Fascinating

[@CoastLife]

Great video guys!

[@roberttugwell4756]

Helen great video, more from you please. I would like to see this under actual working conditions out of the laboratory to judge efficiency and cost.

[@dougowt]

Mother nature’s R&D department has been running for 2 ½ million years. Whatever your problem, she has already got the answer

[@blackhoundrise8431]

A power cell that Mark Watney totally approves

[@jedics1]

My drinking problem never felt so full of purpose until this moment!

[@ustaadjiyassar1763]

This is really encouraging... hope that governments can get behind it

[@mememe5231]

Yep pretty amazing!

[@bibliotek42]

Loved the graphics showing how biology uses electricity in the middle of the vid! BTW you're missing some layers in Robert's bit at the end about patreon etc.

[@nilo70]

I subbed because of this one. Cheers from California !

[@kelvinfaulkner3183]

Brilliant! So good to see things like this. Off-grid home waste treatment process that produces energy for the home. More of these sorts of vids please. Is it time to split the Fully Charged channel into two: Fully Charged - Transport and Fully Charged - Energy?

[@em0_tion]

Never saw pissing away energy in the literal sense. 😀 This is so cool, imagine pissing in a restaurant toilet and using the very same energy to charge your smartphone near the table. 👌

[@jamesdubben3687]

Fascinating discussion. Could see application for space missions. Also could see use in a dairy with cows that have allot of output

[@VFRrider]

Brilliant. And so much easier to get hold of than Bee Pee😜

[@coniow]

2 things I take from this: Why aren't these guys talking to NASA about this ? The ISS, The Moon and Mars ? The second is that I hope Helen made a "Donation" to their food supply before she left :-) ! Very interesting topic.

[@Spark877]

This was nice.

[@Dominick13777]

Very cool.

[@robertroberts5218]

When ready for a test garden/homestead I volunteer to participate and help with a field test site out back with the animals and plants. Really neat. This point of providing good fertilizer after making electricity is a very important aspect. Every homesteader would want this ringht along with simi-transparent solar PV and wind turbines. Neutralizing electric demand for public treatment is also important. How much space would be needed in the basement or stacked on elevator shaft/air shaft/stairwell walls in an office or apartment highrise/skyscrapper?

[@jdray]

I love whizzy new technology!

[@jonathantaylor1998]

Powering an EV using human waste could put a whole new slant on the idea of "taking a comfort break" on a long road trip...! ;-)

[@skyswinger5249]

0:00 That music. I'm having Unbox Therapy flashbacks.

[@billdale1]

There is ONE thing about KZbin that has puzzled and frustrated me: I can backspace as much and as many times as I want through video presentations, but bizzarely, we CANNOT do so with advertisements we would like to review specific elements of an ad, nor can we do so with YT's "shorts". FIX THAT please.

[@alunhoskins4513]

Fascinating and quite brilliant - but remember as stated at the beginning, it must be the right Pee H.

[@mikeyonwin8195]

Thank you Fully Charged Show. A brand new meaning for "Taking the Piss". Vote for microbes. Well done University of the West of England.

[@kadmow]

The Small and Simple "Cell" - built up into a "stack", is how many batteries, Fuel cells and Life Itself is organised.. Magic.

[@craigoneill4504]

They're taking the piss... quite literally and using it in a really great way!

[@mrmawson2438]

Interesting

[@jumpferjoy1st]

Well done. Well done to the presenter. Well done for the subject matter. Bristol is at the forefront of many future technologies, including natural power sources and amazing battery tech. The mainstream media came to the climate change party VERY late and are just whinging about it. Thank god we have media like this that is actually showing the potential for future tech.

[@paulbennett4548]

Absolutely fascinating research, if you are off the grid and have a composting toilet you can now direct the urine divert-er to your microbe cells adding to your solar, wind power electric storage. On the lighter side of things , can you imagine future football club electric coach rides; right lads this half of the bus has to drink six pints each for the outbound trip. T-other half does the home drive. :o)

[@andrewallen9918]

I've long thought about wanting to use my human excretions as a power source or fuel ever since I came across humanure; the advantages of excreting on compost has been known for a long time. I then encountered microbial fuel cells about a decade ago in the US where they had managed to convert urea into an energy source; onsite energy generation or even community energy in local sewage sites were my first thoughts; haven't watched this yet so will be interesting to see if anything has advanced since then.

[@1stBenTV]

"How much power does it deliver?" "1,4V open circuit and 0,5V under load" Yeah, so what's the power???

[@LuisAlbanes]

Are they available to buy for testing them?

[@user-yn5sk5ru5g]

Μπραβό Fully Charged and Helen

[@rp9674]

It's about time

[@kiwiskiz]

This is super interesting.... Never mind human waste, apply this to dairy farms!! Almost unlimited feedstock and it tackles part of the nitrate problem.

[@tommyhundersmarck7018]

as a gardner this has never been waste, it's what fuels plants growth and then fuels me or my chickens. Waste wasted is the greatest waste.