Power to the People

In this, the last of his Big Ideas programmes, James May tries to find smarter, brighter and bolder ways of powering the planet for future generations, and sets off on a global search to find people who share his dream. It takes him from Guildford, where he takes a solar powered car to its limit at night, to the US where he joins some aerospace engineers who are trying to build an 'elevator' into space.

In Holland, James meets the first Dutchman in space who has put away his rockets and has swapped them for kites as he tries to harvest the power of the jet-stream. And finally, in the deserts of New Mexico, he seeks out some modern-day alchemists, who offer the promise of allowing him to drive his car on petrol conjured out of thin air.