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The new toilet in South Korea is giving Poop a advantage. The “Beavis” toilet, designed by a professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, is part of a university building with human waste. Students are encouraged to use the toilet with the virtual currency offer, after which they can trade to buy freshly brewed coffee, fruits and books.
“If we think from the box, the stool has energy and valuable value for making manure,” toilet designer Cho Jae-veen told Reuters.
Excretion has long been a source of energy. In 2019, BMW announced that it was partnering with Dairy Farm to assist fuel electric car charging with cow poop in California. Back in 2012, the Denver Zoo drove a vehicle with animal dung.
When someone uses a beevi toilet, the discharge is vacuum-pumped into an underground tank to save water. The waste is broken down by microorganisms and converted into methane gas, which serves as the energy source for the gas stove, hot-water boiler and solid oxide fuel cell. The man-made toilet name combines the words “bee” and “vision”.
Students earn 10 units of digital currency called “google” – “honey” in Korean – every day they use the toilet. As part of this currency system designed by Cho, students have to scan the QR code at the Google Market on campus and pay for the goods.
The average person defecates 500 grams or 2.11 cups a day, Cho said. This waste can be converted into enough methane gas, and then enough electricity, to help the car travel three-quarters of a mile.
What do students think about providing their excrement to fuel the building? Apparently, some will agree. A postgraduate student told Reuters, “They used to think shit was dirty, but now it’s a very precious treasure to me.”
