Browse content similar to 01/10/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's a huge ball of energy just waiting to be tapped. | :00:32. | :00:33. | |
Banks of solar cells are springing up all over the place, | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
absorbing the sunlight and turning it into electricity. | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
I've come to Oxford University to meet Professor Henry Snaith, | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
who's trying to squeeze more and more energy out of the sun. | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
Current technology based on silicon is fundamentally limited in terms | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
Silicon can only absorb a fixed band of light, | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
a fixed spectrum of light - it absorbs all the visible | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
and the infrared light and then converts that into electricity. | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
They've been developed for about the last 60 years, | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
and the maximum efficiency is about 25%. | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
The trick is to use different materials, alongside silicon, | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
Henry's team are investing ways of coating the silicon cells | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
with a crystalline structure called perovskite, which can convert more | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
energy from different wavelengths of light and can generate | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
electricity at a surprisingly high voltage. | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
At the moment, we're right on the cusp in most places, | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
or lots of places in the world, where we can produce electricity | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
from solar cells as cheaply as we can from coal. | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
So if we now increase the efficiency, it will become | :01:39. | :01:40. | |
cheaper and cheaper and cheaper to produce electricity | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
Solar energy could deliver the sort of transformative change in society | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
as we saw at the turn of the 20th century with the discovery | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
Henry and his team are still near the beginning of that journey. | :01:51. | :01:58. | |
His perovskite-coated solar cells are still climbing | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
towards an efficiency of 25%, which will match the current | :02:01. | :02:02. | |
It doesn't sound like much, but efficiency in the high 20%s is | :02:03. | :02:11. | |
There is a group of young researchers in Switzerland | :02:12. | :02:20. | |
who are pushing solar technology even further. | :02:21. | :02:22. | |
And Dan Simmons has been to meet them. | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
These guys want to change the world by shaping light. | :02:26. | :02:35. | |
You see, their plan is to make a solar panel that doesn't just | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
offer a tiny bit more energy than the last one - | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
that's been happening for decades - but one that can deliver a seismic | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
leap and push out almost twice the energy of | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
The trick is not about coming up with better photovoltaic materials - | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
They're focusing on the light itself. | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
So we are using a lens which is basically a magnifying | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
glass, but with a very particular shape, so that we can track the sun | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
throughout the day with minuscule displacements, so the stroke of it. | :03:08. | :03:15. | |
We are just moving laterally by a couple of millimetres per day, | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
so it's a very slow movement, and it doesn't consume any energy, | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
Now, the guys have set this up moving a little bit quicker | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
In fact, the whole panel would move about one centimetre in a day, | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
And to do that, it would use less than 1% of the actual | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
The other advantage of this system is, because the movement | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
is so small, it can be housed in a normal solar-panel frame, | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
so you can put it up on rooftops with minimal maintenance. | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
Which is kind of unusual for a tracking solar-panel system. | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
The first independent lab test earlier this month measured | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
an efficiency rating that would be off the charts for residential solar | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
We realised that this might be the most efficient flat panel | :04:03. | :04:12. | |
in the world, and we realised the importance of keeping... | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
As well as the optics, the other trick these guys | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
are using is to make use of the most expensive and efficient | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
Satellites get their power from the sun, and these panels cost | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
That is far too expensive to use down here. | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
It would take decades to get your money back. | :04:35. | :04:36. | |
But because the system concentrates the incoming light, | :04:37. | :04:38. | |
just look at how big an area now needs to be covered. | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
It's just those seven tiny black dots on this panel. | :04:43. | :04:44. | |
With world-class materials and low-cost maintenance, | :04:45. | :04:46. | |
the guys are aiming for the system to pay for itself | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
I asked a solar expert who's been in the industry for over 20 years. | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
Many pundits are saying that even with the kind of incremental | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
increases in efficiency that we've in recent years, solar | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
is heading for a place in the mainstream of global energy, | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
even as a backbone of global energy, possibly, you know, in as short | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
a period as a couple of decades from now. | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
When you have moving parts, you have a large number of other | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
I very much hope that they solve it and come up with the first | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
concentrator, moving concentrator, and do deliver this step function, | :05:25. | :05:26. | |
because that would be very much the icing on the cake. | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
It seems the solar revolution is coming. | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
Battery and panel prices have been tumbling, while consumers | :05:37. | :05:38. | |
are warming to electric vehicles that could be used | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
Fossil fuels could finally be facing extinction, and this focus - | :05:42. | :05:51. | |
from the Magnificent Seven - could serve to speed that up. | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
Hello and welcome to the week in tech. | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
It was the week that BlackBerry announced they would no longer | :06:02. | :06:04. | |
The one-time market leader has struggled to keep pace | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
with the serious sales of Apple and Samsung handsets. | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
A spoof video got people doing something seriously daft. | :06:14. | :06:16. | |
Drilling into your iPhone 7 will not bring back the old headphones jack. | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
And Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft announced | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
they will collaborate to create some serious artificial intelligence. | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
The Partnership on AI hopes to create the best ways of dealing | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
with issues like privacy, transparency, and how man | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
In other news, US Girl Scouts can earn a new badge | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
Women in Games International have teamed up with the Girl Scouts | :06:42. | :06:50. | |
of Los Angeles to hold sessions at PlayStation's | :06:51. | :06:52. | |
It'll teach them how to develop their video-gaming | :06:53. | :07:01. | |
talents in the hope more girls will seek opportunities | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
And, finally, you can't teach an old robot new tricks. | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
Pepper the robot has been learning to catch a ball in a cup. | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
It may have taken a while, but after 100 tries it achieved | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
It's hoped that the principles applied here could be | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
used to teach other agility-type motions. | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
Cocktail waiters and netball players beware! | :07:28. | :07:42. | |
Smart clothes and accessories are coming in from the cold, | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
moving from geeky to good-looking, so I've been testing | :07:46. | :07:47. | |
a few of the latest to check it's not just style over substance. | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
It's getting a bit chilly, so I was quite pleased to receive | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
this prototype, and it's quite smart. | :07:55. | :08:13. | |
Smart clothes and accessories are coming in from the cold, | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
moving from geeky to good-looking, so I've been testing | :08:17. | :08:18. | |
a few of the latest to check it's not just style over substance. | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
It's getting a bit chilly, so I was quite pleased to receive | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
this prototype, and it's quite smart. | :08:26. | :08:27. | |
In fact, its makers call it a smart coat, which could be | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
slightly over-egging it, but it does warm up, | :08:31. | :08:32. | |
and the finished product will also be able to charge your mobile phone. | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
Coats that heat up are far from new, but this brings them | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
It uses a type of infrared that claims, instead of simply heating | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
the skin, to be absorbed by the body to help relax muscles and increase | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
blood flow, as well as keep you snug. | :08:48. | :08:49. | |
So am I walking around in more than just a luxury electric blanket? | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
The biggest concentration of the polymer is on the kidneys, | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
because that's where all your circulation runs through, | :08:57. | :08:58. | |
and once your kidneys are warmed up, all your blood warms up, | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
your circulation warms up, and it makes you feel warm all over. | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
But then we have two other parts at the front, smaller parts, | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
which give you the feeling of, you know, getting this warm hug | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
This technology wasn't created to make you feel, | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
With this, the idea is that you can regulate it depending | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
what the weather is, so if you are in the Tube and it | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
gets warm, you can just switch it off. | :09:23. | :09:24. | |
Whilst it felt luxurious and cosy to wear, seeing as I wasn't | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
overheating with it on full on a mild September day, | :09:29. | :09:30. | |
I'm just not convinced the actual coat is as thick as I | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
This smart ring is part of a range of jewellery offering | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
You select what alerts you would like by going into | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
the app, choosing notifications, and then selecting the categories | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
So it could be to tell you that your taxi's arrived, | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
get a phone call, a calendar alert, and then once you've chosen, | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
you select the number of buzzes that represent each thing. | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
This colour may not have been to my taste, but there are others. | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
The bracelets track activity too, and I actually rather | :10:05. | :10:06. | |
enjoyed its functionality, particularly as you could subtly | :10:07. | :10:08. | |
And if you'd like to be subtly smart, then here is the latest way | :10:09. | :10:18. | |
of turning a regular watch into a smartwatch. | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
And after Apple scrapped the standard headphone socket | :10:26. | :10:27. | |
on its iPhone, Bluetooth headphones may be the future. | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
If you've decided that's so, then you won't want them | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
There's more to this rather chunky bracelet than meets the eye. | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
Inside are a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. | :10:38. | :10:39. | |
Taking them in and out of the bracelet was pretty slick, | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
and the sound quality was good, but they didn't stay in my ears | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
as easily as the sportier buds I usually wear. | :10:46. | :10:47. | |
And when it comes to style, well, when you're wearing them, | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
the bracelet is left with a bit of a funny gap. | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
So, while some of the prototypes may still need perfecting, | :10:57. | :10:58. | |
the appetite for functional fashion is growing, so the stakes - | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
and not just the price tags - may be high. | :11:02. | :11:12. | |
That's it for the shortcut of Click this week, the full-length version | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
is up one iPlayer right now. Next week we have something very special | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
for you, we are off to Japan and you can probably watch our exploits | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
right now on Twitter and BBC click. Thanks for watching. We will see you | :11:28. | :11:29. | |
there. | :11:30. | :11:32. |