toilet
Man using a digital tablet while sitting on the toilet

Meanwhile in Science: Experimental Toilet Turns Poop Into Power and Digital Currency, Don’t Be Surprised When Someone Wants to Take Your Crap For You

Turn your crap into currency! That’s the thinking behind an experimental new toilet being developed at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea.

Cho Jae-weon, an urban and environmental engineering professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), is the man behind the eco-friendly design of the BeeVi toilet. The revolutionary crapper uses a vacuum pump that shoots poop into an underground tank, where microorganisms transform the waste into methane, which can be used as a fuel source.

“If we think out of the box, feces has precious value to make energy and manure. I have put this value into ecological circulation,” Cho said.

The average person poops enough daily to produce enough energy to power a car for ¾ of a mile.

But expecting people to jump on this new form of porcelain throne isn’t easy – so Cho is offering incentives. He’s created a virtual currency called Ggool and pays students 10 Ggool a day to crap in his eco-friendly toilet. They can then use the funds to purchase everything from coffee and instant cup noodles to fruit and books. (We see what you’re doing with three of those four items, Cho – creating repeat customers!)

“I had only ever thought that faeces are dirty, but now it is a treasure of great value to me,” postgraduate student Heo Hui-jin said at the Ggool market. “I even talk about faeces during mealtimes to think about buying any book I want.”

Getting paid to poop! Sounds like a dream gig to us…

Cover Photo: Eva-Katalin (Getty Images)

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