This week, sustainability is the name of the game which is
why I am on the eve the cargo bike, it's electric and made
from natural and recycled materials and is usually used
for inner city deliveries but today it is delivering me to a
conference.Nice wheels! Hello down there!Blast from the
past!I know, an icon of the 80s created by a computing
icon. In memory of Sir Clive Sinclair I am taking this for a
spin but it has really been souped up. Inside is an
eScooters with some brand new batteries which means I can go
pretty fast!Wait for me!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
SPENCER CHUCKLES.
Ah!
Oh!
Hey! Welcome to Click!Hello, hello.Look at us, we have a
shiny studio. We have an audience! Hello, audience! And
right next door through that wall and across the river
between has some very important neighbours.Yes, we are here at
BBC Scotland at Pacific E Glasgow and just over there,
the United Nations climate conference COP26 is hosting
leaders from around the world. Along with 25,000 delegates
from 196 nations.The question is will they agree to take the
steps needed to tackle our climate emergency?UN says
current systems won't suffice. We need new ideas and solutions
to secure our future. And so in this show we are asking what
role do technology and innovation play in helping
reduce our emissions? Can technology save our world?So,
let's start and did you know that one of the biggest causes
of greenhouse gas emissions is the agriculture industry? We
know we need to cut down on our meat consumption in one of the
reasons is catalogue responsible for 10% of those
emissions.Yes, but it's not from what we think it is, is
it?The back end? No. Nearly all methane from cows comes
from the front and not the back. Yes, it is all about the
burps. 10% of our entire greenhouse gas emissions come
from cow burps and that means you, magenta, everyone, meet
magenta, magenta, everybody, she has hit along her team and
her showbiz agent Eileen Ball, head of Scotland's rural
college.I link about them. Hello, Spencer. Hello, magenta.
Can I ask you what is magenta wearing and why?The latest in
wearable technology for our bovine friends with two bits of
kit, one is a pedometer, kind of like what we all wear on our
wrist that measures what she is doing, lying down, sitting,
walking around and how much energy she is using. And around
her neck she has something that measures her head movements
that we can know when she is eating and when she may be
producing something out of her front end.And that helps you
to work out how much methane she produces?Methane is
produced after she has eaten her meals and we know how much
she is eating and how often we will be able to extrapolate the
methane as well as being able to measure it to compare it.
And you have built chambers, as that right?We do, use them for
research, it is not something we do routinely in the field
and because it infrequently to really get an idea of the
methane changes over time, how it may differ for this car over
another cow or eating different foods.Is there anyway we can
find out how much methane magenta producing right now?
The equipment we have right now is not the same as this, this
is a laser methane reader that measures the parts per million
of methane that may be coming out of magenta's front end.
Let's give it a go. I will get out of the way because it is a
laser!It is a laser see you all know how dangerous laser
Pogacar.Don't listen, magenta. She is looking at, she knows it
is coming.She does not chase it like a cat does.18 ppm. It
has been a while since she has had a lot of food.A clean day.
Thank you, Eileen. One way to cut down on cow burps is to cut
down on cows, of course, but in the meantime, did you know that
there is a company that is working on a way to catch the
methane as it comes out? How were they doing that? Cow
masks, of course. True story, the masks have fans on them
which stuck in the methane and oxidise it and the makers say
they can cut the amount of methane by half. Cow masks,
everybody. Eileen, but is fascinating, thank you so much,
thank you team and thank magenta. Lara.It went a lot
more smoothly than it may have done. But what comes out of a
cow can also be affected by what you put into a cow. This
lottery feed created from seaweed founder the waters of
Hawaii and its makers blue ocean bars claim it cuts
emissions by 80% but will it make your beef taste fishy?
Apparently not because the thing is... What? Come and get
your bags, £10, bugs!What are you doing?I'll come to my
wondrous Emporium fell to the brim with fine foods from the
future.Great because I am starving.I tell you what, get
your lips around these delicacies.OK, I'm actually
thinking that because our audience have gone to the
trouble of coming here to join us today, they may be more
deserving of this than me. I'm sure you would love to try
some, wouldn't you? Just here we have the first course for
you.Top yourselves. Do we fill in the forms of this? I'm sure
there are forms. Trust me, I have eaten roast and mealworm
in China and they did not do me any harm. In the future we have
to be eating more insects than meat, they are cheap and richer
in protein, calcium and i and have less fat than beef, pork
or chicken and best of all, there are other zillions of
them.I heard, one one half billion per person on earth.
What do you think? How do they taste?They are very crispy.
You do not look too impressed. And you? Like roasted
chickpeas.That's not bad. Do you like roasted chickpeas?
Love them, yes. Listen, they are not just for humans either.
Take a look at these. These are black soldier fly love A21?No,
I'm not feeling so hungry anymore.Correct answer because
they are there for pigs. They feed farm animals most
available, they are bred by bedbugs which is a start-up
based in Scotland.Certain parts of the world eating bugs
is commonplace but I do not imagine them being on my
shopping list.OK. How about... These? OK, that actually looks
borderline appetising.Do you want to try?I think I may be
asking you again. Just behind here you will find that.All
right, just have a taste of that. There we go, anytime you
are ready and I will tell you that these are, drumroll, spicy
crickets. These dishes are made from insect packed but bug, who
loved bugs, obviously, and they say bugs use less water, they
use less land than other animals, they need less feed
than animals and in fact they can be fed on the things that
we throw away.What are they delicious?They are quite
spicy! A bit of a kick.I do not think you are impressed by
any of this.I think it is like sweet-and-sour chicken.OK,
again, not bad.You will eat anything!I think you have got
dinner he has ordered, haven't you?Totally!It is all very
well and good having tasty stuff to eat but in terms of
the climate, how the food is produced is key. And our very
own Jen Copestake is in a greenhouse for us. Jen.I am
here in the knowledge greenhouses looks completely
different than it did on my last visit. It is absolutely
filled with plants now, 378,000 tomato plants here and it
represents 5% of the UK's consumption of tomatoes. Last
year, we saw this world first project being built using an
environmentally friendly heating system.A typical
greenhouse would burn fossil fuels to create the heat that
you need to go through these rails. But our greenhouse takes
waste heat from sewage treatment works. We use that
heat instead of burning fossil fuels.The hardhats and hi viz
gear we were last time have been replaced by coveralls to
protect the crops from bringing an external bugs and viruses.
Workers here have their clothes cleaned on-site. And how many
people are working here now because when I came before
there was nobody.We have about 50 people currently working in
here. On picking.So these tomatoes are going out to the
shops?Yes, they are being picked ready to be packed and
you will see them in the supermarkets own.And we see
different varieties of tomatoes can you explain what is going
on?As we see here, this is to be picked, these are just
starting to get some colour onto they will be picked within
the next ten days. We introduced predatory insects at
the beginning the year we introduced a large, a predatory
insects that feed on anything like whitefly, aphids,
greenfly, spider mites, there is one there.Hello. So we do
not want to rub him. It looks like a greenfly.He is
searching away and looking for something to eat. Because
they're coming to the of the crop we have taken the plant
off.So this would have extended all the way to the top
of the greenhouse?Up to the top of the wire, we keep a
buffer over the top of the greenhouse we can control the
atmosphere and the climate within here.And more producers
going on a greenhouse just next door using the same ring
technology. How many cucumbers are you going here in the
greenhouse?The other greenhouse here is 14 million
cucumbers. 14 million?22 million peppers. 22 million
peppers? I don't know how many tons of tomatoes, but a lot.It
is done better than we had anticipated in its first year,
if I'm honest.Yes.But, you know, great.So this project
has proven that you can grow a large scale of produce in the
low carbon way, you just need to be near a waste heat source,
and there are plenty of those around the world.This, Jen. Of
course, once I crops have been harvested, they need to be
stored safely so they don't spoil. An estimated 630 million
tons of grain goes out each year, which is such a waste.
Doctor Lorenzo Conti thinks he might have a solution. Doctor
Lorenzo, what is it?
What he we have developed is the world's first subterranean
drone and we are using
the world's first subterranean drone and we are using it to
help the grain storage maintain the quality of their stock.You
called it a drone but it doesn't look like drone much.
That's right. Since there wasn't a word in the dictionary
to describe what it is we have come up with one. We call it a
prover. What does it do exactly? It is grain and
storage and saaaa silos and states and monitoring the
temperature and moisture helping maintain quality.How
does this vary from conventional methods of looking
after grain?You need a farmer to physically work on top with
a spear and taking samples at a few points which is dangerous
and in some situations not possible to do.That sounds
like a big job. Do you think farmers are going to use this?
Right now we are focused mostly on Green storage apps which are
usually owned by Port merchants and operators but we would like
to develop in future a version that is suitable for farmers as
well.I'm hoping when it's used in the real world that doesn't
mix up the grains like that. You so much.Chris with a week
intact. This was the week with giant Yahoo pulled out of China
blaming an increasingly challenging business and legal
environment there. Meanwhile, Epic games has announced the
Chinese version of Fortnite will also closed. Facebook said
it will facial recognition on the social network and will
delete 1 billion people's data. It was used to tag people in
photos of ylesy campaigners that criticise it to. Facebook
said the technique to be debated in the open. It was
also the week that Facebook whistleblower Francis Hagan
appeared in Kolinisau calling for Mark Zuckerberg to be
replaced. She was also critical of the country's rebrand to
Meta.Over and over again Facebook chooses expansion over
sticking the landing and what they've done.And Meta is not
the only company with its eyes on the meta- verse. 3D avatars
will come to Microsoft teams next year so you don't have to
get out of bed or do your hair before a video call. In the
game streaming site Twitch announced it was punching out
with a new section for animal and aquarium live stream so if
you're more into rabbits or prefer altars to overwatch or
fish to fortnight, then they got you covered. -- Fortnite.
When it comes to reducing our emissions, keeping heat from
escaping our homes is really important. And Paul Carter has
something particularly warming to shallows. Paul. Thanks,
Lara. Yes home insulation is certainly a hot topic at the
moment and rising energy bills are also making headlines. But
of course, Click wouldn't be Click if we didn't have a robot
that might be able to help with that. This is Zubot and Dayna
from Kew but is he with me. Thanks for having me.First,
what is QBot what does it do? This is QBot. What we do as we
create intelligent tools with retrofit sustainable solutions
in the construction industry. So this is Boudicca.So
Boudicca sprang here. What is she spraying? How is it getting
from the robot up to the floor? She spraying a polyurethane
foam to retrofit insulation. What can a robot doing this
environment that a person can't do. What we've done is create
robots an industry that didn't exist before. These robots
navigate very small environments which are far too
dangerous for a human.I notice you're controlling this a video
game controller. Everything can be done from a game pack. It
does look like a game, looks like a lot of fun. What are you
seeing in your screen there. I'm seeing my virtual aiming
arrow. I also got my spray pattern which I'm running
through here. It's nice and easy, nice and safe. Will it
work and everyone runs homes? What we're looking for is two
things. Suspended timber floors, and floors that have
less than 20% moisture.I'm not an expert in flooring
installation but it looks to me like it's done a pretty good
job. Thanks, Paul. We are a tech show and we can't avoid
the fact that tech is a heavy user. The there are data
centres all over the world filled with power hungry
computers but also filled with power hungry cooling systems.
Some data centres are being North so they can use the
naturally colder air but there are other options as well.
Microsoft has been running an experiment just off the coast
of Orkney and they put a data centre underwater. What could
possibly go wrong? Let's find it. Lucas chopper 's chief
environmental officer at Microsoft. Welcome. The idea is
you are using colder seawater to call the computers?Yes,
exactly. You asked what could go wrong. When you put data
centres underwater, a lot fewer things can go wrong. That might
seem a bit counterintuitive but we can completely seal that
environment. It has to be to go underwater. That means there is
no human operator error. We can remove all the natural gases
that we can find here and put gases in the keep the computer
Ronnie's -- computers extremely efficiently. We can use the
natural cooling power of the sea to keep the computing at
the right temperature for the entire time. At least that
nice, small, portable, basically underwater cloud if
you will.How much is it up to governments to make demands of
the tech industry on what it needs, and how much is it up to
big tech to devise new solutions to show governments
what can be done.It's an entirely collaborative process.
I think about moving a heavy dresser to room all by
yourself, you move it, go to the side, you move it back and
I think that's kind of the way public and private sector work
together in this space. It's for the public sector to show
the regulations and the like, and it's for the private sector
to respond with solutions.How much is big tech to blame for
climate change? . This is a shared social economic Dublin.
When you look at the tech sector itself, we really see
the impact around energy use. Tech is driven by a lack trans-
and the generation of those electrons, any omissions, with
Microsoft, we have 100% renewable energy by 2025. Many
of the other tech players do as well and I think that's really
the single place that tech has to really make sure that it is
helping transform, taking care of its own house while also
helping to decarbonise electrical grids that we have
course operate on but so does everybody else.Lucas, thank
you for your time. One way to help set with more than double
the number being registered in the UK this year compared to
last year, many of us who may be considering a jump are still
worried about running out of charge. Nearly half of homes
don't have a place to park, which means you can't have a
Charger at home, but Dan has found something that may be
able to help. Thanks, Lara. I want to show you a world first,
at least for us ordinary drivers, consumers. Maybe your
EV is a little bit low on juice but you can't just charge it up
anywhere, and there really is no such thing as a jerry can
for electric vehicles, seeking to stop them up. Well, not at
the moment. This is Jonathan, he comes from a company called
zip charge. What is that?This is the zip charge go. It's a
portable EV charge that gives people the freedom to charge
anywhere they park.In the box there, you just plug it into
egg any regular socket? Plug it into your socket at home.It
charges in just over 60 Minutes, you will it at your
car, plug it in and it discharges in just over 30.And
it works with any car?An electric vehicle customer how
far will that get me.This is four kilowatts an hour. 80
miles of range which is more than enough of the average
daily mood here in this country. How much is it cost.
This unit will cost £49, and if you want to buy it outright
£1000 which is in the ballpark of a fully installed fixed term
Charger. It's going to cost me a bit to carry around.
Batteries are not lightweight, are they?Much it way? This way
just under 25 kilos. That's roughly about the luggage I
would take on a 2- week holiday you are expecting me to carry
that in my beautiful electric vehicle wherever I go.That's
going to affect the efficiency of this?Not really. If you put
it in context, it weighs less than 2% of business in Leeds so
the weight is marginal.There is a lot of talk about
battery-powered technology may be being disposable, doing a
lot of damage to the planet. Will that actually last me?If
you were to charge every day, this will last you almost four
years but at the end of its life, we take the batteries and
use them elsewhere for energy storage. At the moment, it's
just a prototype. Shouldn't get too excited.We brought this to
showcase at COP but it's the first global Premier. It will
be available for anyone to buy next year.Thanks, Jonathan.
Great stuff.Now something to raise a glass to.Last orders!
In that case I will have a pint of lager.We got to want up
today, one is made from bread, the other is a local room made
from old scraps. Excuse me? I will explain. You try that,
this is a zero waste sour made by dry gate Brewery across the
Clyde there. It's a concocted from unwanted fruit and veg
which would otherwise end up in landfill. It just tastes like a
fruity sour beer. Good, but don't enjoy too much because it
is just part of a campaign that is lasting for a month for COP
26.OK, tell me about the bread beer.This is made by a brewery
called Coast, from the left of end of loaves which the
Sandridge industry otherwise trucks in the bin. The booze
industry is responsible for a lot of emissions. They grow the
crops there, they package it, they heated up, they call the
down.At least British breweries are focusing on the
issue. Emissions of hard over the past decade. Crumbs.But I
do have something else for you to try.Ian tonic?Ian tonic? I
would just have the tonic. It has actual peas on it. I will
explain. Jen is usually made from wheat or Bali which is
grown using synthetic fertiliser which contains
nitrogen but this is made from peas which don't need added
nitrogen to flourish. And by not using said fertiliser, it
saves 1.5 kilograms of carbon emissions per bottle.There is
definitely a hint of pea about it.And in the note I think I
should call time. All right. Listen, thank you so much for
watching. I hope you've enjoyed watching as much as I have but
I've been drinking so probably not. We've seen some incredible
ideas today but let's be honest, they aren't going to
solve the issues we face on their own. That we really need
the world's leaders gathered here in Glasgow to step up in
accident five years we are not saying time is running out. But
sadly time has run out for us. Thank you so much for watching.
We will see you next week and cheers.