Rio Carnival attracts a huge amount of tourists every year. Colors, music, dances and various follies animate the city of Brazil but there is a problem that arises annually: how to guarantee public toilets for all? Between one samba and another, between a blocos (neighborhood parade, editor's note) and the next one, you will have to stop for a pee break. But how to do it? The solution, look a bit sustainable, was found this year by one of the organizers of the event, AfroReggae, who in collaboration with the carioca advertising agency JWT installed special urinals capable of converting these 'waste' liquids. in energy
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Rio Carnival, energy is produced from pee. Every year the Rio Carnival it attracts a huge amount of tourists. Colors, music, dances and various follies animate the city of Brazil but there is a problem that arises annually: how to guarantee everyone public toilets?
Between one samba and another, between a blocos (neighborhood parade, editor's note) and the next one, you will have to stop for a pee break. But how to do it? The solution, look a bit sustainable, was found this year by one of the organizers of the event, AfroReggae, which in collaboration with the carioca advertising agency JWT, has installed specials orinatoi capable of converting these 'waste' liquids into energy.
The hygienic-sanitary problems deriving from a lack of public toilets has always caused considerable inconvenience during the most famous carnival in the world. Bad smells are a must in the Brazilian carnival capital, but to try to stem the problem this year special urinals have been installed that convert the flow of 'body fluids' to be used during the carnival.
But how can we produce energy from pee? The designers of the urinals, called Electric Pee, explained that the energy is generated by the flow of urine passing through special turbines. This is a bit like what happens in hydroelectric plants. In Rio's case, the power was stored in batteries, which were then used to supply 'portable' power to AfroReggae's sound system.
“We thought of transforming a sore point, which has generated a lot of controversy, into something lighter and more fun. We rewarded those who kept it a little longer and peed in the right place, in the urinals, immersed in music ", he said Ricardo John, CCO of JWT Brazil.
It was not possible to calculate how much energy was produced by the pee discharged in Rio, but certainly the urinal-turbines have partially reduced the ecological footprint of the event, and made the Rio de Janeiro area more fragrant.
Not only. The Brazilian idea born with the carnival could be explored outside the event. Certainly, urine turbines will never compete with other more 'noble' renewable sources, but it is still interesting since pee can always be within reach, oops, of the toilet.
Francesca Mancuso
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