荷兰两所大学的可持续化学研究人员发现了一种将用过的厕纸转化为电能的方法。研究人员发现其效率与天然气厂相当，成本与家用太阳能电池相同。该成果发表在近期的《能源技术》杂志上。根据美国能源信息局的数据，由于这一系统的闭合性和燃料电池的性能增加，这一新过程所获取的电力是单纯燃烧厕纸的两到三倍。如果把研究者所在的荷兰阿姆斯特丹地区所有的厕纸每天都转化成电力，那么污水处理设施在厕纸与水分离上将节省40%的能源。这样获得的电力可供6400个家庭使用。

Technology | Used Toilet Paper Can Generate Power

The sustainable-chemistry researchers from the Netherlands developed a procedure to turn used toilet paper into electricity. The researchers found that they could generate energy from waste toilet paper with about the same efficiency as a natural gas plant and for the same cost as in-home solar panels, according to the research detailed recently in the journal Energy Technology. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, thanks to the closed-loop nature of this system and the increased efficiency of the fuel cell, this new process captures two to three times more electricity than that from merely burning used toilet paper. If all the toilet paper in the Amsterdam region, the researchers' native country, were converted to electricity daily, then water treatment facilities would save 40 percent of their energy on separating toilet paper from water, the researchers calculated. Furthermore, the captured energy could power as many as 6,400 homes.