Looking for a house? Ur-ine luck
From clothes being made out of our recyclables to bricks being made out of urine - the future of construction re imagined. Discovered by University of Cape Town Masters research student Suzanne Lambert; urine is ‘liquid gold’. The urine was collected in temporary urinals placed around the campus; the containers also contained builders lime which reacts with the urine to produce a stimulant.
Once the stimulant is removed, the liquid left over is used in the brick production process. Loose sand is added to the mixture allowing bacteria to produces enzyme urease. Additionally calcium carbonate is then produced. The compound is what makes eggshells so strong. Particles bond together thus creating a brick.
Just a hundred trips to the toilet are needed to make a single brick – peeing with a purpose has never sounded so true. Bricks containing urine use up less energy than those made in kilns. Human urine is in infinite supply so why don’t we collectively build urine filled infrastructures and create a better tomorrow.
Can these houses be made in England? Yes.
Can they be made in Spain? Sí.
Can they be made in France? Oui.
Cow fart backpack
As we all know, our beloved flavoursome cows are the party the cause of global warming due to their intensive realise of Methane accounting for 25% of all
methane emissions which also happens
to be the worst greenhouse gas. The impact of methane on climate change is over 20 times greater than carbon dioxide.
Argentina’s National Institute of agricultural Technology (INTA) has come up with a cow-fart-backpack aiming to fight climate change. The target is to turn the gas into useful biofuel.
The backpack captures gases released through the cow’s mouth (painless procedure). After condensing the gas, it is then ready to provide power for the farm the cow is living on. The backpack isn’t being produced on a large scale so for those of you looking to looking to save money on your electricity bill, I highly advise you attain a cow and a cow-fart-backpack. Let’s save the planet.
The general theme is to do our utter most in order to save the environment. We may not be able to restore the earth to its original state but with the collection of, urine, cow farts, and plastics (all very conventional ways of saving our planet), we may be able to slow down the effects of global warming. The best of luck to us all.
16 | MANE MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING | DECEMBER 2018