A university in South Korea has started using a toilet that converts human waste into digital money. This eco-friendly toilet was designed by Professor Sho Jai-yoon, an urban and environmental engineering professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. Students using the toilet can earn 10 Gigool (a unit of digital currency) daily, which is enough to buy coffee, bananas, or even books on campus. The money generated by the toilet can only be spent within the university.
The toilet is connected to a lab that takes feces and converts it into energy in the form of biogas. A pump transports the human waste to an underground tank, where microorganisms break down the waste and convert it to methane. This methane is then used as fuel for purposes such as boiling water and powering stoves in the building. According to Reuters, Professor Yoon stated, "If we think outside the box, feces has valuable potential for energy production and fertilizer. I have placed this value in environmental circulation."
Graduate student Huh Hoi-jin added, "I never thought of feces as anything other than something dirty to get rid of, but now it is a treasure of great value to me. I even talk about feces during meals to think about buying any book I want." An average person produces about 500 grams of feces daily, which can be converted into 50 liters of methane gas, according to Professor Yoon. This amount of energy is sufficient to drive a car for 0.75 miles, according to The Sun newspaper. Anyone using the eco-friendly toilet receives 10 Gigool per day, which is enough to buy coffee, instant noodles, or fruit, and students can also save the Gigool to purchase books. To spend the digital money, students only need to use their unique QR code.
