This episode looks at a biofuel crop that grows on Indian wasteland rich in oil; a green slime fuel growing in some flasks in Japan; and a device for converting our footsteps and even noise into energy. Meanwhile a Singaporean company is installing systems in which the hot exhausts from air-con systems are used to heat water, and a new company is developing hydrogen-powered bikes. There’s also a high-tech sea-bed generator and the secrets behind getting electricity from cow-poo.

This episode investigates a new satellite that will more accurately chart CO2 emissions; a computer corporation in Taiwan developing wooden notebooks; an Indian entrepreneur tacking the plastics mountain by developing edible cutlery; and the ultimate recycling village, high in the mountains of Japan.

In this episode we look at the home of the future – a gizmo which generates clean power within your house; a skyscraper combo-glass that insulates from tropical heat, is self-cleaning – and actually generates electricity for the building from the sunlight that falls on it; and the professors in Taiwan busy pulling down walls and digging up concrete, making a start on turning the ultra-urban Taipei into a haven for streams and wild plants.