This year the Olympics come to the UK, and billions of pounds have gone into building the state of the art facilities that the athletes will compete in over the summer. But what if the Olympic stadium - or premier league football grounds - could double up as power stations, providing us with clean fuel?

The idea of harnessing energy from the sun isn't new; it's been around for billions of years in the process that plants use to get their energy - photosynthesis. 

The green plant life you see around you has a perfectly developed system for absorbing sunlight and using it to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbohydrates. The energy from the sun is 'stored' in the chemical bonds of the carbohydrates, ready for the plant to use later.