Pee Mobile

I've been thinking a lot about alternative energy recently, given the skyrocketing price of Light Sweet Crude. I am happy that alternative forms of energy are getting serious attention, but I am dismayed by the direction some of the trends are taking. I really think that we should be investing in clean energy, but this seems not to be happening.

Electric power is not clean. It is often manufactured by burning coal or by controlled nuclear reactions. Neither of these are clean sources of power. Until we have figured out what to do with the radioactive waste, and I don't mean burying it in the Canadian Shield, we shouldn't be using the technology. I realize that some electricity is generated by other means, like hydro electric power, but this is fraught with serious problems. One only has to look as far as the Three Gorges Dam or the destruction of the pacific salmon fisheries for evidence.

Ethanol is not clean either, and it could better be used for food. After all, there is an international food crisis. And then there is the issue of how much carbon must be used to produce ethanol. It makes more sense to me to use agricultural byproducts rather than food itself, so I am sort of happy that the Ontario Government has invested $7.5 million in project (at the University of Western Ontario) to turn things like corn husks and manure into fuel and biogas. Still, I wouldn't describe this as clean energy.

There is lots of conflicting information surrounding various water-powered cars, like those from Denny Klein or Stan Meyer - who was not poisoned, despite the rampant conspiracy theories - or the Genepax car. This still seems to be a dream, and I wonder what impact it would have on our water supplies. But, such an invention would be a step in the right direction. In my opinion, what we need is a car that runs on urine. It would give fill 'er up a whole new meaning.

There are lots of hits on Google for this topic, but I am not convinced that such an invention is ready. Urine certainly qualifies as a renewable resource. I guess we'll have to carefully study the emissions - of the car that is. It would also lead to other sources of revenue. Instead of finding a public washroom, you could ask someone if they require a fill up. I would sell mine for an affordable 25 cents per litre.