Festival-goers at this year’s Glastonbury will help to power information panels in an unusual way.
Two ‘Pee Power’ urinals – which turns urine in to electricity – will be set up at the festival.
The technology has been developed by scientists at the Bristol Bioenergy Centre (BBiC) in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England.
BBiC director Ioannis Ieropoulos said: “Our Pee Power work has featured at the festival for the past two years. This year we have been given a huge boost with a prime space for our biggest ever 40 person Pee Power urinal.
“This fantastic exposure for Pee Power follows the establishment of a strategic relationship sealed in a memorandum of understanding between the University and the Festival last month.
“The Pee Power at Glastonbury project is the result of our close collaboration with our partners Oxfam and Dunster House and our collective effort to improve lives in refugee camps and areas of the world with no sanitation or electricity. This fits well with the charities and organisations that have traditionally received support from the Glastonbury Festival over the years.”
The team will show two units – one close to the pyramid main stage and one close to the performer’s area – with scientists and volunteers on hand to explain how the technology works.
It is anticipated that there will be over 1,000 litres of urine per day flowing through the microbial fuel cells generating enough power to charge ten information panels.
The team added that they hope the facility can engage the public and that they hope to showcase it to thousands of people over the course of the festival.
