Business Daily

Home solar – putting panels on your roof or side of your house, used be something fairly unusual. However, rising energy costs means that people are increasingly looking for alternatives.

Presenter Rick Kelsey explores why the trend for solar panels is happening across Europe – and asks whether the industry has the infrastructure to cope with increasing demand.

Rick travels to south east England where panels are being put on the roof, and speaks to installer Scott Burrows. And he meets Linda who rents her home – her landlord has just had solar panels fitted. Linda says she has noticed the reduction in her bills, however her central heating is gas so there might not be as big a reduction over the winter.

Just over 3,000 solar installations are being carried out every week according to the trade association Solar Energy UK. That’s up from 1,000 a week in July 2020.

Michael Schmela and Naomi Chevillard are from Solar Power Europe. They say they are seeing an unprecedented demand in countries across Europe, especially those that rely on gas.

We also hear from a solar project in the Morogoro region of Tanzania, where farmers are using solar to run a farm and a training centre.

And David Shukman, the BBCs former climate editor, talks about the affordability of solar panels and how that’s changed over recent years. How much is the demand and payback time for home solar changing?

Presented and produced by Rick Kelsey.

(Image: Solar panels being fitted on a roof. Credit: Getty)

Brompton makes 100,000 foldable bikes in London every year and exports about 75% of them. Chief executive Will Butler-Adams tells us how he grew the business around the world. He also explains how he's navigating inflation, and the prospect of recession. Plus, why he believes his mission is not simply to sell more bikes, but to change how people live in cities around the globe.

Producer/presenter: James Graham

Comics are a multi-billion dollar industry and comic conventions - or cons - attract thousands of fans, desperate to meet their heroes and splash some cash.

Elizabeth Hotson visits the MCM event in London to find out what’s hot and what people are spending their hard-earned money on.

We hear from Joëlle Jones, a comic book writer and illustrator, Jenny Martin, Event Director at MCM Comic Con and Michael Loizou from Brotherhood Games.

Plus tattooist Matt Difa shows off his Star Wars inkings and Vincent Zurzolo, the Chief Operating Officer of Metropolis Collectibles in New York looks back on one of his most memorable comic book sales.

Producer: Elizabeth Hotson

Picture Description: Comics at Wellcome Trust Superhero exhibition, Picture Credit: Getty Images

Margrethe Vestager is the European commissioner for competition.

Ms Vestager has been spearheading the landmark Digital Markets and Digital Services Acts aimed at regulating the global technology industry.

The new rules passed the European Parliament in July and will start to be implemented in the spring.

Victoria Craig sits down with Ms Vestager to ask about the commission’s win against Google in one of Europe’s biggest courts (which resulted in a record fine).

She also explains the importance of her hallmark legislative endeavours on global competition and fairness in the big tech space.

And she talks about how the EC’s Important Projects of Common European Interest programme – which allows joint investments in riskier technologies – could help alleviate Europe’s energy crisis.

Producer: Stephen Ryan

(Image: Margrethe Vestager. Credit: Google)

Could building more homes and offices out of wood instead of concrete help tackle climate change?

We travel to Finland, where growing numbers of homes and offices are being built using wood, and the industry is booming.

We’ll hear how it can help improve sustainability in cities and take a look at the challenges and benefits of using more wood inside our offices and homes.

And we'll also hear concerns about the impact on the country’s famous forests.

Mai Suominen, a senior forest expert for the World Wildlife fund explains the benefits of using wood to make buildings, because they can store carbon that’s already been removed from the atmosphere by trees for decades.

Ali Amiri from Aalto University has been exploring the costs and benefits of using wood for building - and the impact of the war in Ukraine which has increased interest in wood as a building material.

And Maddy gets a tour from Linda Helen of an eight story wooden office block in Helsinki that’s home to one of Finland’s biggest gaming companies Supercell.

Produced and presented by Maddy Savage.

(Image - wooden building in Helskini. Credit: BBC)

Millions of people, mainly women, sign up for jobs as domestic workers overseas. Yet much of this work is informal, with households enforcing their own terms behind closed doors - leaving the workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

In this episode, Laura Heighton-Ginns meets domestic workers who escaped modern slavery.

Jackie was forced to work extreme hours, sleep on a hard floor, and given only leftovers to eat for two years. Grace felt she had no choice but to take a domestic job overseas, but discovered many women who do this work are victimised.

As well hearing their stories, Laura speaks to the newly appointed Philippines Secretary of State for Migrants and UN International Labor Organisation and asks why domestic workers still lack basic protections.

Presented and produced by Laura Heighton-Ginns.

(Image: Grace Nine. Credit: BBC)

The global events industry was valued at more than $1.1 billion in 2019, before the start of the covid-19 pandemic. Live music and concert events alone lost $30 billion in 2020 and most outdoor festivals were cancelled. This year, in 2022, with more people vaccinated around the world, many festivals have managed to return but are having to cope with rising prices and staff shortages, as well as people with less cash to spend.

Monica Newton, the CEO of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, tells us about the challenges she's faced in holding this year's event. The director of the Great British Food Festival in the UK, Daniel Maycock, says they've managed to avoid putting up ticket prices so far and are trying to support smaller businesses.

Lisa Louis travels to the Rock en Seine festival, to the west of the French capital Paris to speak to the director, Matthieu Ducos, about how he's had to adapt. She speaks to food and drinks vendors about how they're coping with rising prices and festival goers about how they're dealing with having less money in their pockets.

Presenter: Emb Hashmi

(Image: Matthieu Ducos, director of the Rock en Seine festival, Parc de Saint-Cloud; Credit: BBC)

For online influencers getting verification - a blue tick next to their social media account name - is the ultimate prize. It brings credibility and elevates their status online.

Presenter David Harper investigates how accounts can become 'verified', what it means, and if you make your money through online platform, how much is it actually worth?

David speaks to Matt Navarra, a social media consultant and industry analyst. Matt has worked for Meta and Google amongst others and says he asked how to get a blue tick dozens of times each week. He explains why verification is useful to brands and users.

Entrepreneur Jacques Bastien lives in New York, he works with different brands and companies, and explains why verification is so important for his clients, making them seem more trustworthy. He says the blue tick has a financial benefit which is hard to quantify, but is there.

And the BBC’s China media analyst Kerry Allen explains the different approach by Sina Weibo, where accounts are checked and ‘verified’ to a certain degree when an account is created. She explains the different ‘V’ system that accounts have depending on who owns the account.

Presented and produced by David Harper.

(Image: Social media influencer. Credit: Getty)

The sport of lacrosse has a long history, being one of the oldest sports in North America. But, for a long time, many players couldn't earn a living in the same way athletes could who were playing in established leagues like Major League Soccer or the National Football League. After a time as one of the best lacrosse players in the world, Paul Rabil, along with his brother Mike, an established businessman and investor, decided to start their own league that could give players a livelihood.

We speak to the brothers to find out the challenges of starting a league from the ground up, and how they had to convince players to join them, and from there, we also find out how it could be going global, and why the story has been turned into a major documentary that has aired on ESPN.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon, Producer: Ed Butler

(Image: Paul and Mike Rabil at an event; Credit: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Premier Lacrosse League)

The coronavirus pandemic allowed many people worldwide to work in new and radical ways. It brought some of the biggest changes for computer-based office workers, many finding themselves working from home for the first time.