Glastonbury loos powered by pee
The Pee Power urinal that turns pee into electricity - designedby researchers at the University of the West of England - is at Glastonbury Festival for the second year running.
It’s a joint project with workers from Oxfam and Dunster House shelter manufacturers.
The toilets are being trialled in the field before being shipped out to Africa and India later this year where they could change the lives of those living in countries where sanitation and electricity are not generally available.
The Pee Power loo made its first appearance at Glastonbury last year, following its launch. This year the urinal is twice as big and capable of accommodating up to 25 people at once.
It is powered by urine fed through microbial fuel cells that generate enough electricity to light up the inside of the unit.
The project is in quite early days in terms of the field trials and Oxfam is hoping to work with the Bristol BioEnergy Centre not just on investigating the lighting inside toilets but working towards lighting a six metre radius around the toilets so we have street lighting based on pee power.
Glastonbury organisers have said that it is vital that festival goers do not pee on the land as it pollutes the river that runs through the site and harms fish and other wildlife.