07/02/2012 Newsnight Scotland

Glasgow scientists think they had the answer. It is finally feeling

the heat from the banking crisis. There are questions over

competition on the High Street. A technology that could remove

greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and put oil back under the North

Sea. The Glasgow solar Fuels Group is a multi-million pound

collaboration. Its aim is to convert solar energy into new East

-- new fuels. The timescale? Before the oil runs out. First, our

science correspondent, has this report. The sun gives its energy

away for free. It heats up the atmosphere and makes the wind blow.

We harness that power. What is the problem? There are two problems.

Solar-powered may make it relatively easy to generate

electricity but it is difficult to store. Sometimes, when you need it

most, the wind stops blowing. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes

it does not. The problem is with storage. When you make electricity

you have to use it straight away. Fuel gives you stored energy that

you can access whenever you want. Hour of work looks at Fotis entasis

- the one major chemical process on the planet - that takes renewable

energy in the form of solar energy and turns it into a fuel. That

seems straightforward enough. had two tubes set up. We had two

electrodes in water. We're putting electricity through the electrodes.

It is ripping the water apart. It is turning water into hydrogen and

oxygen. It is a very well-known reaction. The trouble with hydrogen,

it does not still well in large The airship, Hindenburg, was full

of hydrogen. We work inspired from discussions we had with our

colleagues in biology about how could be split water and tried to

make devices? We have a chemical that acts as a battery. We are able

to split water. Rather than producing hydrogen and oxygen at

the same time, we could lock hydrogen up in the water in a

special material and make the precursor for a fuel. If I show you

their fuel, it is an intensely blue coloured material. It looks like a

boil. Voters and the Sears is a highly inefficient process. Glasgow

researchers want to improve on nature. There are billions of

5th and will release the CO2 into the atmosphere. That is a

greenhouse gas. We combine it with carbon to create a new field. It

would also created, the big difference is that the carbon can

be used again to capture more solar energy. It would be a closed carbon

cycle. One source of carbon could be another emerging technology,

carbon capture. They are ideally placed for what they see as the

next step. We are making a fuel based on CO2, so we'll have a

proper cycle of carbon. You bring the atmosphere back into balance,

and that is exactly what we need. The major problem is that you can't

live an aeroplane on electricity. - - fly an airplane. You need fuel.

There is billions of carbon in the apse at this there. That match a's

atmosphere. You have a lot of pipelines, empty oil wells. If you

can produce a massive offshore wind, and use that electricity, you could

intercept summer that carbon, and activated. In the end, if you

imagine a cycle way you are able to replace the field today with some

light tomorrow, -- some light tomorrow, we have a balanced cycle.

We can put that CO2 back in the ground. We would safely store while

backing the will Wells. This is not science fiction, but it is not yet

signed spat. It will take tens of years, and billions of pounds.

have got the concept, we know we want to start from. We are doing

work on the various areas. We know we want to get to, but we don't

know how to get there. The excitement is to develop that

research, to actually do this. One of the things that we are doing is

to try and enthuse young people, so they come with the new ideas to

help us tackle this. The research required has been likened to a new

Apollo programme, it will need if Investment and political well.

Business and politics are notoriously short-term focus.

I'm joined by profession a league Cronin, who saw in that film. --

Professor League Cronin. The idea is to have a liquid fuel. If by an

understanding this correctly, the root problem is that photosynthesis

is very slow and inefficient, and what you need to do is to find a

she then engineered version? That is right. It produces feel, that

takes 100 years to get there, and we are burning her through that

right now. The idea is to take the sunlight, the energy that comes to

the planet every day, and can that that in real time. You have to

speed that up. Is that the bit that you can't do, or have you made any

advances? All of it is feasible. There are two major issues, you

have to use precious metal to do its. We are trying to remove those

precious metals. The second thing is that you have to activate the

CO2, that is tough,. We need to find some sides to make that happen

very fast. An issue in Scotland is that there is not much sun, there

is a lot of wind. How can we go from electricity to -- from

electricity to feel. We are also looking at using microbes. You can

plug them into a windmill, and you can get feel out of them. Are you

looking pattern in organic form? can do that, we have tried to make

the process more general, using electricity to take water out of

light. We can then ploughed back into renewable sources. -- plug

about him. The there is a bit of the cycle that I find fascinating.

If the use cost less energy to fuel the photosynthesis process, and the

use sunlight, even if you end up with hydrocarbon, if the energy

going in is less than you get out, because that is costless, that

wouldn't really matter? We could probably do this. It would be very

expensive, and we have a race, there is a waste to supply our

energy needs, burning fossil fuels, and putting carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere. We have to think about intermediate solutions. People want

to bury CO2, that is a questionable thing to do, because of all sorts

of issues. If we could bury it, and intercept it, to turn her back into

a fuel, we would take the fossil out of the field, and burning car

that does not give you a hangover. The other thing about this cycle,

it would be a bit like wood-burning, it is neutral? Exactly. You would

be using the field you end up with to displace the use fuel. It is

expensive to extract fossil feel. If you were leaving it there, your

idea would be a machine which extracts CO2 brother Alastair? The

second effect would be, if this was to work, we could carry on taking

that out of the atmosphere. At the very worst it would cause

catastrophic climate change, we could remove that, rather than be

other solutions. Realistically, given the problems you have

described, getting this photosynthesis to work, what sort

of timescale is it even feasible to talk about? It comes down to cost.

We are really well placed in the UK, and in Scotland, to start to ask

these questions, and bring together the right people. There is

political will in the UK and Scotland. Decades is in tears? --

isn't it? We are talking about 30- The news that the owners of the

Clydesdale Bank were reviewing the business immediately raised fears

of significant job losses. Up until now the bank has avoided the worst

of the banking crisis by opting for more conservative lending. Now its

parent company, the National Australia Bank, says it can't go on

as it is, in a decision that could have far reaching consequences for

banking on the high street. Clydesdale Bank has always been

seen as a bit staid and boring. In the context of what has been

happening at the other banks in Scotland, it is a bit of a

compliment. The Clydesdale plodded along and no one paid it a blind

bit of attention. It has been clear that all is not as simple as it has

seemed to. Its Australian owners wanted to restructure or sell the

bank. There was talk of selling at 20 British bank and then talk of a

credit downgrade. National Australian Bank topped up the

reserves of Clydesdale and its pension fund and the banks stopped

lending in the risky commercial property area. This needs to be

seen in the broader industry context. Santander has taken over

several hundred RBS branches. Northern Rock has been sold to

burgeon Macro. If Clydesdale is on the market, it could become a

significant player. That clearly would not work if it was sold to

Lloyds of RBS, who already have many Scottish branches. Barclays

and HSBC do not. There are businessmen on the prowl looking to

be Britain's next generation of bankers. Last night National

Australia Bank said it did not think that Clydesdale was

sustainable as it is so something has to give up. With me now is Dr

Robert Webb, a banking and economics lecturer from Glasgow

Caledonian University. Given these various statements and given that,

in effect, Clydesdale was put up for sale last year and they could

not agree terms, do think that is the most likely outcome? I do not

think anyone knows what will happen. They are trying to position the

bank to sell it off to the highest bidder. One strategy presumably

could be to cut it back. They are trying to pull out of the business

banking arm where they are not making any profits. Once they have

realigned into the retail business, there will have a look at a new

purchaser. This is in context of a new shake-up in high-street banking.

The whole sector is finding funding very difficult to come by. Funding

has increased in cost and they are having to look at each business

summer make sure everything makes a profit. Just for those of our

listeners who are not bankers quite you presumably a talking about the

borrowing that a bank makes in order to fund lending... What

lenders are concerned about is that it -- be stability of the funding

from mainly deposits. They wanted to be long-term and stable as

opposed to the capriciousness our financial markets. They need to

make the maximum return from each of their sectors. And not use what

Vince Cable uses the casino bit. The problem is everyone is playing

the same game. They're trying to get into long-term funding.

seems to be an ambition of the Government in London, who

incidentally probably will not thank National Australia full

blaming the Government's austerity policies as one of the reasons they

might want to get out of Britain... Based seem to want a new major

player in the High Street. It looks like the colour or takeover 700

branches of Lloyds HBOS. -- the Co- op could takeover. I am unsure. I

do not know how they will increase competition given the regulations

from Europe and from the Vickers Report published before Christmas.

I do not know the answer to it. I do not know who will purchase

Clydesdale to make it competitive. The people who were before where

these new groups of individuals. They were openly interested.

problem is that Clydesdale making decent money out of the retail arm.

It is in commercial property they are losing. The retail arm, if

someone is going to take that, they will still find conditions quite

difficult. What you're saying about difficult conditions, with Tesco's,

everyone thought they were the obvious players. They have said

they're not introducing a current account for 12 months. Where they

finding it difficult? Costs are rising. -- why are they finding?

The return via making from their assets are falling. -- they are

making. In the Herald: It says there has been a huge drop in blade

the fences. In the Financial Times, it is about the big mining merger

which is threatened. In the Independent, a last ditch fight to

save the NHS reforms in England. I Good evening. It is turning into a

bitterly cold night. It could get as low as minus 15. A very cold

start to the day. They could be snow flurries in the east. A bright

start in the North of England. It will feel cold. Other smirk in the

south eastern corner. There will be a raw north wind. It will be a fine

and bright day with long spells of sunshine. It will be cold,

especially in the breeze. More strength to the sunshine. It will

probably feel a bit less chilly. A bit milder compared with the rest

of the country. The same in northern and western Scotland. The

south and east of Scotland should be dry and bright. Into Thursday,

will notice some rain. Temperatures will start to lift up. Not much