This toilet turns poop into power and allows students to buy coffee
A person’s feces or poop is commonly viewed as bodily waste that has to be eliminated through bowel movements. People wouldn’t expect that it would help students buy coffee or bananas. South Korean educator Cho Jae-weon designed a toilet to do exactly that and more.
The toilet designed to produce energy is called BeeVi, a blend of the words “bee ” and “vision.” It can be found at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), where Cho is an engineering professor. The students who use the toilet earn a virtual currency called Ggool, which translates to “honey” in Korea.
Every person who uses the eco-friendly toilet can earn 10 Ggool daily. Students can use it to purchase food and other items on campus like coffee, cup noodles, fruits, and books. They can also opt to shop and pay with Ggool by scanning a QR code.
‘I had only ever thought that faeces are dirty, but now it is a treasure of great value to me,’ said Heo Hui-jin, a postgraduate student on the Ggool market. ‘I even talk about faeces during mealtimes to think about buying any book I want.’
Using a vacuum pump to transfer the poop into an underground tank, BeeVi also reduces water use. In the tank, microorganisms break it down to methane until it becomes a source of energy for the building. It can also be used to operate a hot water boiler and power a gas stove.
‘If we think out of the box, faeces has precious value to make energy and manure. I have put this value into ecological circulation,’ Cho shared.
Banner: unsplash/jankolar and pexels/eren-li
The post <b> This toilet turns poop into power and allows students to buy coffee </b> appeared first on WE THE PVBLIC.
Source: we the pvblic
No comments