South Korean professor develops toilet that turns poop into power and cryptocurrency

Bryan Ke
·1 min read

Cho Jae-weon, a South Korean urban and environmental engineering professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), developed an eco-friendly toilet that pays students cryptocurrency and turns feces into fuel.

The invention: The BeeVi toilet uses a vacuum pump that sends feces into an underground tank where microorganisms break down the waste and turn it into methane, according to Reuters.


  • The gas produced by the system would later become an energy source for the building that could power a "gas stove, hot-water boiler and solid oxide fuel cell."

  • Cho explained that a person, on average, defecates around 500 grams a day. This amount can then be converted to 50 liters of methane gas, which could generate 0.5 kilowatts per hour of electricity or drive a vehicle for 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles), according to Hypebeast.


Turning waste into money: Students who use the BeeVi toilet can receive 10 Ggool (honey in Korean) cryptocurrency per day.

  • It can be used to purchase coffee, instant cup noodles, fruits and books on campus.

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


Featured Image via Reuters

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