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Generate electricity from urine!

The not-for-profit organisation Plasactie has ambitious new plans. Last year, after a battle that had lasted a decade, it ensured that women were able to go to the loo free of charge. Today it is arguing in favour of using urine to generate electricity.

It already happens in the Netherlands argues Plasactie, so why can't it happen here? In some Dutch offices it is already the rule: urine is used to generate power. So why not replicate this at the Ghent Festival, Europe's largest street festival? Beer and other beverages flow in abundance as tens of thousands of people from Belgium and abroad join the people of Ghent for their annual ten day musical extravaganza. Surely there will be enough urine to keep the generators ticking over in this country where a reliable energy supply now seem to be a thing of the past?

Christophe Peeters, the city cabinet member responsible for the Ghent Festival, seems to be somewhat of a party pooper, at least in this respect, as he has poured cold water on the idea.

There is more news about the free loos too. They cost the City of Ghent some 50,000 euros each and every year. The city authorities now hope to recuperate some of these funds by advertising on and possibly in the loos.

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