:00:00. > :00:15.This week, solar powered cars, huge pipes, and lots and lots of green
:00:16. > :00:39.goo. That sounds like a good night out to me!
:00:40. > :00:52.Think power, think power stations, think power stations, these days
:00:53. > :00:57.think fossil fuels. That means emissions and huge amounts of carbon
:00:58. > :01:01.dioxide being pumped into the air. This is a miniature version of the
:01:02. > :01:06.new carbon capture facilities that we will start to see in power
:01:07. > :01:15.stations in the next few years. Their job is to capture as much CO2
:01:16. > :01:19.from waste emissions as possible. This facility at Imperial College
:01:20. > :01:25.London catches 500 tons of CO2 per year. A full-sized version will
:01:26. > :01:31.capture 1 million tons per year. This is... I am surrounded by
:01:32. > :01:37.science right here. This is part of the training for engineering
:01:38. > :01:40.students at Imperial, looking at alternative energy sources. As the
:01:41. > :01:44.largest solar research facility in the UK, much of what it does us try
:01:45. > :01:52.to improve the efficiency of solar cells. Doctor Alvarez is creating a
:01:53. > :01:56.new kind of solar cell that is two or three times more efficient than
:01:57. > :02:04.traditional silicon. Why aren't current solar cells very efficient?
:02:05. > :02:09.The problem is that silicon only picks up one part of the solar
:02:10. > :02:19.spectrum, and much of it is lost as heat. . You can put other cells in
:02:20. > :02:27.using different parts of the spectrum in, and that makes the
:02:28. > :02:30.overall efficiency much higher here is one of those so-called multi-
:02:31. > :02:36.junction solar cells. It may be tiny but it can cope with the sunlight
:02:37. > :02:39.focused from Lens 5002000 times bigger than itself. That is another
:02:40. > :02:49.thing traditional solar cells can't do. Last year, Australia held the
:02:50. > :02:52.world solar challenge. It is a race for cars powered entirely by the
:02:53. > :02:58.sun. Jonathan Blake was covering it for us and this is the story of what
:02:59. > :03:04.happened. Sleek, stealthy, futuristic
:03:05. > :03:07.machines. These solar cars will attempt to 3000 kilometre journey
:03:08. > :03:11.across Australia. I am with the first high school from Europe to
:03:12. > :03:16.take part in the challenge. From Darwin, through the outback to
:03:17. > :03:22.Adelaide. Their car looks a little different. It was built on a budget
:03:23. > :03:26.by teenagers from a college. It does stick out a bit but I think it is in
:03:27. > :03:30.a good way. It shows it is doable to do it as students with off-the-shelf
:03:31. > :03:35.items, just make something that does look great. After three years of
:03:36. > :03:39.work there is one final hurdle to clear before the team can race. A
:03:40. > :03:47.test lap to check the top speed, steering and brakes. It is a nervous
:03:48. > :03:52.wait for the team. The car passes and after a little helping hand, the
:03:53. > :03:59.team have a place on the grid. It is an amazing feeling, we are in the
:04:00. > :04:03.race! It is today the race, and previous winners from Delft
:04:04. > :04:09.University in the Netherlands are also preparing for the start. There
:04:10. > :04:14.are high-efficiency solar cells, a very aerodynamic car. It has about
:04:15. > :04:18.the air resistance of the side mirrors of a normal car, and it is
:04:19. > :04:24.very lightweight. We use the lightest materials we can find. We
:04:25. > :04:30.have carbon fibre and aerospace rated aluminium. The cars are making
:04:31. > :04:34.their way one by one across the start line and beginning the epic
:04:35. > :04:44.3000 kilometre journey across Australia. So excited, it is crazy.
:04:45. > :04:47.There is only one route between Darwin and Adelaide, but the team
:04:48. > :04:52.finds out it is still possible to get lost. About 50 metres into the
:04:53. > :04:55.race a policeman pulled us over because we are on the wrong road.
:04:56. > :05:00.They are not expecting solar vehicles on this road. It was a good
:05:01. > :05:06.start. Soon after the car gets moving again its words out of
:05:07. > :05:12.control. It is so scary because of all these cars going along at about
:05:13. > :05:17.100 kilometres per hour, we didn't get very far. We are going to try to
:05:18. > :05:24.get to the next control stop, we will have an opportunity to work on
:05:25. > :05:27.what went wrong on the road. But then, more drama. In the rear
:05:28. > :05:35.support car we can see smoke coming from the trailer. You are wrong
:05:36. > :05:40.fire! You are wrong fire! It has started rubbing against the metal
:05:41. > :05:44.frame causing it to smoke. I think we are going to take the car off,
:05:45. > :05:50.jack up the trailer, try to get the wheel off and go from there. After
:05:51. > :05:56.an eventful first, the team set up 400 kilometres down. You never
:05:57. > :06:00.assume things will go your way in a race, always something will come
:06:01. > :06:07.up. Definitely one thing we learned today. It is the morning of day two,
:06:08. > :06:10.and the team have had to make a difficult decision. After
:06:11. > :06:15.yesterday's near miss they are going to keep the car on the trailer and
:06:16. > :06:18.drive to Alice Springs. That is the halfway point, and there they will
:06:19. > :06:22.test the car and tried to figure out what went wrong. The team have
:06:23. > :06:26.decided it is not safe to put anyone in the drivers seat. It is
:06:27. > :06:31.disappointing, but we have to put safety first. It is the right thing
:06:32. > :06:37.to do. It means two days on the road and the team losing points for not
:06:38. > :06:43.driving the solar car. They can still stay in the race if they hit
:06:44. > :06:47.the checkpoints of time. -- runtime. In Alice Springs, the car gets to
:06:48. > :06:51.checkup and a test drive. After two days on the trailer, we are in Alice
:06:52. > :06:56.Springs, halfway, and the team have had a chance to regroup. It looks
:06:57. > :07:01.like it will get back on the road. Although chuffed to be back on the
:07:02. > :07:08.road, there are one or two hazards to deal with. We have an incoming
:07:09. > :07:15.road train. Our first major roundabout, what the hell do we do?
:07:16. > :07:22.Incoming truck! Soon, the car has another problem. All of a sudden the
:07:23. > :07:25.current started going up very quickly. The speed started going
:07:26. > :07:31.down, and we thought it might pass but the car kept going up and be
:07:32. > :07:36.speed kept going down. We think the brakes are constantly slowing down
:07:37. > :07:42.while taking more power. It is back on the trailer and onto next
:07:43. > :07:45.campsite. The brakes are fixed and the car is back on the road. The
:07:46. > :07:51.team from Cambridge University who have worked closely with them pass
:07:52. > :07:56.them on the road. It was amazing, it was beautiful driving along here.
:07:57. > :08:02.The car was working very well and it is great to get some kilometres on
:08:03. > :08:07.their. How was your foot? My foot is killing me, stuck in the same place
:08:08. > :08:11.for quite a while. It is great to get this far. At least an hour or so
:08:12. > :08:15.on the road for the car today, which is a real achievement. They were
:08:16. > :08:19.hoping to swap drivers but there is a problem with the battery, so after
:08:20. > :08:24.some roadside repairs it is back on the trailer and hopefully some more
:08:25. > :08:28.miles on the road later today. At the next control stop to fix their
:08:29. > :08:31.latest problem, the team had to break the seal on the car's battery,
:08:32. > :08:36.which could mean they have to withdraw. There is a chance phone
:08:37. > :08:40.call to a senior race official. We have heard from mission control that
:08:41. > :08:46.we can finish the race having done fix that we are going to do now. The
:08:47. > :08:50.car is taken off the trailer one final time despite all the problems
:08:51. > :08:54.the team has faced, and it is in one piece, ready to drive the final few
:08:55. > :09:06.kilometres through the city to the finish line. Congratulations! Well
:09:07. > :09:11.done, you made it. That is 3000 kilometres down for the team, so big
:09:12. > :09:15.celebrations tonight, and it will be great to see them come through the
:09:16. > :09:19.finish line with the car. It is a good feeling to have all the crowd
:09:20. > :09:25.here cheering. It was so good, everyone was cheering. We are so
:09:26. > :09:32.happy we have finished! A great effort for the students, who came
:09:33. > :09:37.sixth in their class. The overall winners were the Delft University
:09:38. > :09:43.team in the Netherlands, completing in just under 38 hours, and only
:09:44. > :09:48.eight minutes ahead of second place. Welcome to the week in technology.
:09:49. > :09:53.Let's start with something for science fiction fans, which includes
:09:54. > :09:58.me. Researchers have created a tractor beam made of sound, using
:09:59. > :10:02.speakers. It can successfully track, move and twist a small object.
:10:03. > :10:05.Instead of holding spaceships, research is expected to be used for
:10:06. > :10:11.smaller scale jobs like microsurgery. It is also the week
:10:12. > :10:20.that Apple announced more profits, Wall Street failed to be impressed
:10:21. > :10:23.by Twitter's meagre 4 million new users, and Microsoft unveiled the
:10:24. > :10:27.tablets oblique it comes with its own handle. And for something rather
:10:28. > :10:32.lighter, would you write this into space? One space tourism country
:10:33. > :10:34.seem to think so. They have completed test flight for a
:10:35. > :10:43.passenger balloon. It was successful, which puts it on track
:10:44. > :10:49.for a 2040 launch. If you have a spare ?50,000 and don't mind riding
:10:50. > :10:52.20 miles up in a balloon. By a strange twist of fate we have a
:10:53. > :10:59.second balloon story this week, courtesy of Google. The balloon
:11:00. > :11:03.internet project is scaling up, with the company launching a massive ring
:11:04. > :11:06.of helium balloons 60,000 feet into the stratosphere to being the
:11:07. > :11:18.internet to people living under their path. -- deem. Just starting
:11:19. > :11:22.my own business venture... Now, contrary to what you may
:11:23. > :11:27.think, there are other ways to use the energy from the sun than just
:11:28. > :11:34.turning it into electricity. This is the solar hydrogen lab at the
:11:35. > :11:40.Imperial: -- Imperial College in London. They producing algae, which
:11:41. > :11:45.produces hydrogen, and that is the fuel. We talked last week about
:11:46. > :11:50.hydrogen's use as a renewable energy, able to fuel cars without
:11:51. > :11:56.harmful emissions. Up until now, producing it in large quantities has
:11:57. > :12:00.involved burning fossil fuels, which is not at all green. That is where
:12:01. > :12:06.this lab comes in. It is green, bright green. Step one, store the
:12:07. > :12:12.algae in one of these. Step two, grow it in one of these. Step three,
:12:13. > :12:17.cultivated in some tubes like this, and step four, you put them into one
:12:18. > :12:23.of these photo by a react as. That is where the magic happens. It is
:12:24. > :12:26.inside these custom contraptions that the algae is put into a harsher
:12:27. > :12:34.environment, causing them to produce hydrogen. Stressed algae. Problem is
:12:35. > :12:38.it also kills the algae. Ordinarily, you would have to stop this process
:12:39. > :12:42.every so often to get rid of the dead plant matter and feed in new
:12:43. > :12:46.algae. The breakthrough research here is that scientists have managed
:12:47. > :12:51.to make that an ongoing process. They can replace the dead algae with
:12:52. > :12:54.living algae at the correct rate without stopping anything, and
:12:55. > :13:00.keeping the mini factory producing hydrogen for over a month. Batch
:13:01. > :13:04.system, you grow it, you make hydrogen, then it stops and you
:13:05. > :13:09.start from the beginning. In the continuous system you can use
:13:10. > :13:14.hydrogen all the time. The larger version of this test system can
:13:15. > :13:19.produce four litres of hydrogen each hour, which is six times as
:13:20. > :13:23.effective as a batch method. But really, even that is just a drop in
:13:24. > :13:31.the ocean. If you want to use hydrogen as a fuel, these have to be
:13:32. > :13:35.going for thousands of litres. When the sun goes down, these go to
:13:36. > :13:39.sleep, but as we all know that is also when the fun really starts. A
:13:40. > :13:46.couple of weeks ago we showed you a new camera that can shoot
:13:47. > :13:49.exceptionally good pictures in the dark. There seems to be a battle
:13:50. > :13:55.between manufacturers at the moment to create cameras that can do that.
:13:56. > :13:56.We asked our online camera guru to check-out Sony's latest lowlights
:13:57. > :14:09.offer. For 17 years I have worked as a
:14:10. > :14:13.cameraman. For the last ten years I have been a freelance filmmaker. I
:14:14. > :14:21.worked with George Lucas on his last film. Today I want to talk about
:14:22. > :14:25.cameras in low light. Night. -- Nice.
:14:26. > :14:35.As the light goes down and the winter nights come to us it is time
:14:36. > :14:40.to switch cameras. This is the A7S2. You can buy this on high-street. The
:14:41. > :14:49.image quality from this is to good, there is nothing stopping it being
:14:50. > :15:01.used in a cinema. -- so good. In the film days used to bias on that was a
:15:02. > :15:05.ISO. You would holiday in England. -- buy film. If it was dark and you
:15:06. > :15:13.would have a higher number. Digital is different. You can get the ISO
:15:14. > :15:19.you want in your camera. This is going to get darker and starker. You
:15:20. > :15:28.need higher numbers to compensate. -- darker. That is dark. Let me push
:15:29. > :15:42.the ISO up to 10,000. On my camera that looks like daylight. You get to
:15:43. > :15:47.a point where... Right now, it certainly sees more than my eye can
:15:48. > :15:55.be. I cannot see this lady's face with my eyes but this camera can. --
:15:56. > :15:58.can see. When I first got it I went down to Brighton beach and was
:15:59. > :16:03.amazed at how much I could see. I was seeing things I wasn't supposed
:16:04. > :16:09.to see with couples. I felt embarrassed and pointed the camera
:16:10. > :16:17.away. So, for me, the biggest benefits of a camera that I can
:16:18. > :16:24.shoot comfortably at 60,000 ISO is where I can go into where light is
:16:25. > :16:34.low and I can see better than I can with my eyes. This is the max I can
:16:35. > :16:37.see. 490,000. I don't think I would ever shoot at 400,000. Then again,
:16:38. > :16:44.five years ago, I said the same about 1600. By far, the hardest
:16:45. > :16:50.thing about shooting in lowlight situations... My eyes cannot keep up
:16:51. > :17:00.with the camera. I have trouble seeing the dots on the lens to get
:17:01. > :17:04.them in the right place. Well, it has got to that point of the year
:17:05. > :17:12.where so many blockbuster videogames are about to be released. We are
:17:13. > :17:16.testing the first one, Halo five. The Master Chief is back and this
:17:17. > :17:23.time he has brought his mates along for the ride. An Xbox exclusive,
:17:24. > :17:27.they proved that first person shooters can work on consoles by
:17:28. > :17:35.blending a grand space opera with incredible dialogue... If this all
:17:36. > :17:43.goes sideways... I understand... And shooting. Lots and lots of shooting.
:17:44. > :17:51.Baby came the yardstick by which all sci-fi shooters are now measured. --
:17:52. > :17:58.They became the. Their missions are now carried out by two different
:17:59. > :18:07.teams of Spartan super soldiers. The first team is led by Master Chief.
:18:08. > :18:16.Just like John Paul Van Damme, he has gone AWOL. The second team is
:18:17. > :18:23.led by Spartan Loch, their job is simple, track down the Chief. Being
:18:24. > :18:29.part of a team changes up single player. Other teammates can be given
:18:30. > :18:36.instructions or orders. Mark that turret. It can be fun, though it
:18:37. > :18:41.does lead to becoming a bit of a bossy boots. Routine, take that
:18:42. > :18:46.turret. It means you can approach tactical problems in different
:18:47. > :18:55.ways. -- Blue team. You can also have other humans playing with you
:18:56. > :19:01.via Xbox Live. There is a new big bad. I am the board. If by talk, you
:19:02. > :19:10.mean shoot everything that moves while hurling plasma grenades, well,
:19:11. > :19:16.you are in for it. There is a new multiplayer mode. It is called
:19:17. > :19:21.warzone, it allows 25 players to go out into huge maps while try to
:19:22. > :19:28.capture invaders. It is as slick as ever. You can still customising or
:19:29. > :19:33.personal Spartan, ensuring he is dressed in the highest of fashion.
:19:34. > :19:43.Your team scored. Gay Meadow. Victory! Halo fight is not perfect.
:19:44. > :19:50.-- Victory. The story is not that great but the primary mechanic,
:19:51. > :19:59.digitise destruction, is as enjoyable as ever. -- Halo Five. We
:20:00. > :20:03.have been is seeking about solar panels. -- we have been speaking.
:20:04. > :20:09.Would you believe you can power an entire airport? It is possible. You
:20:10. > :20:17.need many solar panels and a whole lot of sons of the fortunately, we
:20:18. > :20:24.found both in India. -- lot of sun. Take a deep red. Out of the top 20
:20:25. > :20:28.of the worst cities for air pollution in the world, the top
:20:29. > :20:35.three is India. --. You can point the finger at coal and gas powered
:20:36. > :20:43.stations. You can breathe again now. We are in India. The air is not
:20:44. > :20:47.perfect on the southern tip of India but it is better than elsewhere. The
:20:48. > :20:54.views are pretty good as will. A nice place for a holiday. -- as
:20:55. > :21:02.well. When you fly in, the land of the world's first solar-powered
:21:03. > :21:09.airport, 46,000 solar panels in total. The main driver behind their
:21:10. > :21:12.airport project was avoiding skyhigh electricity bills. They needed to
:21:13. > :21:20.make enough power when the sun was out to also cover the electricity
:21:21. > :21:24.they used when the sun goes to bed. That is the reason why we have gone
:21:25. > :21:31.for a huge plant, 12 megawatts, which will be able to, in a short
:21:32. > :21:38.eerie and 6-7 hours, to generate enough electricity to reach our
:21:39. > :21:43.requirements. -- period. They are confident they can get back in five
:21:44. > :21:49.years the 10 million they have paid to build the plant. But is this a
:21:50. > :21:54.good model for others to copy? The success of solar-powered does not
:21:55. > :21:58.just depend on how much we care about the environment, or for that
:21:59. > :22:05.matter, the weather. It is also down to the money. In India, because you
:22:06. > :22:09.pay more for electricity than you get if you sell it, it makes more
:22:10. > :22:12.sense to go solar if you are going to use the electricity it self,
:22:13. > :22:18.otherwise it is going to take you far longer to make back what you
:22:19. > :22:22.spend on a shiny new solar plant. -- itself. That is fine if you are a
:22:23. > :22:29.power hungry airport, but not for the rest of us. Solar panels should
:22:30. > :22:33.get cheaper. The hopes pinned on lectures and they have to be more
:22:34. > :22:44.highly valued. That airport are telling others to look for power up
:22:45. > :22:51.in the sky, not down in the earth. -- that airport is. That was David.
:22:52. > :22:57.We will finish our solar show with, what else, but they solar bench.
:22:58. > :23:02.Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a solar bench for charging your mobile
:23:03. > :23:06.devices. They are five in London, four in Canary Wharf here. Here are
:23:07. > :23:13.the charging point. This one is for an iPhone, one for everything else.
:23:14. > :23:20.And these can be very easily replace yes, and indeed when, they get
:23:21. > :23:29.pinched. Two USB ports for your computer. -- replaced. This is not
:23:30. > :23:32.just a solar bench, it is also a smart bench. This monitors the
:23:33. > :23:39.temperature, pollution level, and ambient noise, which you can call up
:23:40. > :23:45.on the accompanying application. As if you don't have it these days. The
:23:46. > :23:49.bench has been designed by a Serbian architect. In his hometown of ELT
:23:50. > :23:55.rate you will also find a smart stray. -- Belgrade. Not just a
:23:56. > :24:02.charging station but a Wi-Fi hotspot. -- smart tree. It is
:24:03. > :24:07.charged by the sun so it can work in the dark. But that is it for this
:24:08. > :24:10.week. We are out of juice. Fortunately, I have the powers that
:24:11. > :24:21.be joined us on Twitter throughout the week. -- power. -- join. That is
:24:22. > :24:37.it for now. See you soon.