14 DAY TRIAL // Odds are quite a lot of people do not think all that highly of the toilets their homes accommodate for. On the contrary, there are many who only remember that they have a toilet in their home when certain circumstances bring this to mind.
Thanks to a group of researchers working with the Seoul National University and the Korea Electronics Technology Institute in South Korea, toilets might soon get a tad more recognition.
Not to beat about the bush, these brainiacs claim that, according to the findings of their investigations into the matter at hand, it is possible to turn run-of-mill toilets into sustainable energy sources.
According to Inhabitat, the idea is to tap into the energy potential of toilet flushes. Specifically, what the scientists claim can be achieved is to harvest the energy of the water that flows when your average Joe or Jane flushes the toilet.
Information shared with the public says that, in order to make the most of the energy potential of toilet flushes, the scientists who worked on this research project started by creating special transducers, i.e. devices that convert a signal in one form of energy into another form of energy.
It was these transducers that made it possible for the researchers to harvest the mechanical energy of flowing water and use it to generate electrical power. Thus, it was discovered that the energy potential of a single drop of water was more than enough to power a green LED.
The Seoul National University and Korea Electronics Technology Institute scientists imagine that, at some point in the future, the technology that they have developed will make it possible to power entire households using nothing but the converted mechanical energy of toilet flushes.
It goes without saying that this technology could also serve to tap into the power generating potential of rain water, ocean waves, and river currents, the researchers wish to stress.
In a recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that global warming and climate change were already happening, and that evidence indicated that, under a business-as-usual scenario, they would only get worse in the years to come.
Consequently, it was argued that the world must waste no time when it comes to phasing out dirty fuels and promoting the use of clean energy sources. Given these warnings in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, it comes as good news that efforts are being made to harvest not just conventional clean energy sources, but also fairly peculiar ones such as toilet flushes.