Innovation Nation

To get answers,the team travels from the hub of the world,New York City,to a coal mine in the Canadian prairie to the seas of Norway before finally winding up in California. The primary strength of such a show rests on the very innovations it explores. The more unique the product,the higher its curiosity value. The unique ways of capturing carbon dioxide,one of most potent causes of global warming,begins with Prof. Klaus Lackner of Columbia University displaying man-made trees that capture 1000 times more CO2 than natural plants. He conducts an experiment on a busy NYC street and then compares the results,concluding that 10 million artificial trees would reduce global emissions by as much as 10 per cent.

Vehicular emissions,however,accounts for a miniscule amount of the total carbon dioxide pie. Almost 25 per cent of harmful emissions are caused by coal plants,which release carbon dioxide as a by-product of burning coal. Nobel prize winning scientist Malcolm Wilson has created a special solvent that brings down the level of carbon dioxide to almost nil before being released into the air. In the sea not far from Norway,a drilling company has created a wall where the released carbon dioxide is stored before other natural resources are extracted. It’s an extremely complicated process but the analysts continuously monitoring the wall say that the containment process has been successful so far. The process of containing the harmful gas is well-illustrated through a CG map to make it easier for a layman to understand the procedure.

The most interesting process comes from a private company that has been researching ways of converting CO2 to a natural resource itself rather than treat or contain it. Carbon Sciences,based in Sanata Barbara in California,has created a special enzyme that converts carbon dioxide to a usable resource. The President and CEO Byron Elton says the company is waiting for the product to reach mass production levels.

All of this is done in under 25 minutes,a remarkable achievement. The show is superbly edited with slick production values. With further episodes on wind power,bio-fuel,communications,robots at work etc.,Innovation Nation is a show for the common person to understand the different ways in which the task of saving the planet is being undertaken by a small army of dedicated personnel.

Verdict: ****

Unconventional show that deserves a watch