In 2012, the Maker Faire Africa (MFA) held its conference in Lagos, Nigeria. The Maker Faire Africa is dedicated to inventing things that Africa needs, and they are committed to finding fresh skills, inventions that were made locally, and inventions that will be sustainable and kind to the environment. The MFA is an annual convention in which people from the smallest rural villages to the largest urban cities meet together to connect, swap ideas, and help redefine Africa as a promising source of ideas. The most unexpected inventors to attend the Lagos convention were four girls: Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola. Between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, these girls attend the Doregos Private School in Lagos, and at the conference they presented a urine-powered generator.   

Their machine works by putting urine in an electrolytic cell that separates the hydrogen from the urine.  The hydrogen is pushed into a different chamber and turned into a purified gas, and from this gas, energy can then be harnessed. The only byproduct of the generator is water, which is another reason it’s so great, because it doesn’t harm the environment at all. The machine is a low priced, alternative resource that can turn one liter of urine into six hours of energy, making it a promising generator for a place like Lagos.

The need for generators in Lagos is incredibly high due to the large number of power outages that the city faces. The city also suffers major pollution issues, and the oil prices in Lagos have been spiking because of oil shortages. Other fuel alternatives are not an option for the people of Lagos because they are too expensive for average people to afford. In order to make their machine, the girls spent only sixty-four dollars, and, with another small investment, they hope that they can make their generator even more compact and practical. While there are several issues with the girls’ project if it were to be mass-produced, most of the issues revolve around the need for storing the hydrogen and the upkeep that the machine would need.

Their machine owes a lot of its inspiration to Gerardine Botte, a chemical engineer at Ohio University who invented the urea electrolysis process. In an interview with NBC, Botte said that the girls’ work was “empowering,” and she believed that it would be good for them to work with an engineer in order to further their invention. She even defended the four girls in her interview, saying in response to critics, “It is a high school project, so don’t take it [so seriously].”

Intel sponsored the girls to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. They won the United Technology Company award for Excellence in Science and Engineering, and their prize also came with a three thousand dollar scholarship. Although their machine has its faults, the quartet is on its way to achieving something monumental in alternative fuel resources. Hopefully, with the grant that they won at the Intel International Science and Engineering Festival, the girls will be able to continue their studies in alternative fuels.