There's no doubt that our love of technology is contributing to climate change - but can technology become a force for good, saving us from fiery doom?

These ten technologies could help save the world, but are they real solutions or are we just fiddling while the planet goes to pot?

1. Break our oil addiction

EU scientists believe that a "supergrid" combining wind and wave energy with the output of massive Mediterranean and North African solar farms could help Europe become zero-carbon. It's not a quick or cheap fix, though: just installing the necessary high-voltage lines would cost $1 billion per year for the next 40 years.

Reality check: Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, says: "assuming it's cost-effective, a large-scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change."

2. Dig really deep holes

Google.org - the philanthropic arm of Google - is investing $10 million in EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems), which gets geothermal energy from under the Earth's crust. Instead of relying on hot springs, EGS fractures hot rock and pumps water through it to create steam, which would power giant turbines.

Reality check: Scientists agree that EGS is certainly possible, but the big concern is whether it can ever be cost-effective. And it might not be entirely trouble-free, either: in 2006, Swiss engineers had to stop an EGS experiment when they triggered an earthquake in Basel.

3. Make our wheels wired

Emission-free electric cars sound great, but they're not much cop if there's nowhere to plug them in. Car makers are beginning to think about the bigger picture. Nissan and Renault have inked a deal with Portugal to build networks of charging stations for its forthcoming (2010 in Japan, 2012 in Europe) electric cars, with other EU countries pondering similar systems.

Reality check: "To be fully sustainable, electric cars need to be powered by clean and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind," says Greenpeace.

4. Make our homes work

Technology for ultra-efficient homes exists already: low-power LED lighting, super-efficient central heating boilers, effective insulation and water-conserving plumbing can massively reduce the typical home's energy demands, while solar panels and wind turbines can reduce your reliance on the National Grid. Scott Specht's Zero House shows what's possible.

Reality check: "27% of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come directly from the way we use energy in our homes," the Energy Savings Trust reports. Making a home zero-carbon costs £35,000, but the EST expects costs to plummet.

5. Make our gadgets green

Devices on standby waste huge amounts of energy, with gadget chargers and TVs being big offenders. Green Plug could solve the first problem by creating a new standard for chargers.

The technology uses standard USB connectors but kills the power when devices are fully charged, saving stacks of energy.

As for the latter, if turning off the telly is too much like hard work the One For All Energy Saver turns your home entertainment kit off from the comfort of your sofa.

Reality check: The EST says that if everyone in the UK with a set-top box switched it off at night, we'd save enough energy to make 80 billion cups of tea.

6. Get energy from everywhere

"Energy scavenging" means capturing energy from vibration, heat, sound or light sources - a bit like those Seiko Kinetic watches that recharge as you wave your arms around, but on a bigger scale.

Researchers at Ohio University have found a way to turn the heat from car exhausts into electricity, and it may be possible for the movement of cars across bridges to generate power. One inventor has even found a way to create electricity from knees.

Reality check: Energy scavenging is unlikely to become mainstream - although it's useful in cars, with energy from braking helping to recharge batteries.

7. Make fuel cells happen

We've been hearing about fuel cell-powered laptops for years, but they're finally on the horizon. Maybe. Polyfuel has built a prototype Lenovo laptop that runs on methanol cartridges, and promises that such technology will be in everyday laptops within a few years.

What about cars? In August, fuel cell-powered cars carried out a road trip to 30 US cities to demonstrate that hydrogen is the "fuel of the future", but we're still a few years away from having hydrogen-powered cars in our driveways. Mercedes-Benz says it'll be 2014 or 2015 before "economically competitive" fuel-cell cars will be in volume production.

Reality check: Greenpeace says that "without a revolution in the way we generate energy, hydrogen powered cars will not be a solution."

8. Suck the CO2 from the sky

If CO2 causes climate change, why not suck it out of the atmosphere? A team of US scientists reckon they'll have a prototype CO2 extractor within two years, with each machine sucking the equivalent of a London to New York flight out of the atmosphere in a single day.

Reality check: Kert Davies, energy expert with Greenpeace USA, has warned that "removing greenhouse gases so readily will not encourage people to develop alternate, renewable technologies... it's like having cancer and putting a Band-Aid on it."

9. Make virtual reality work

Virtual reality is the greenest way to travel, and It isn't hard to imagine a VR version of Google Earth for tourism that delivers all the benefits of real tourism without irritations such as travelling, other tourists or, you know, killing the planet. However, if we're not willing to embrace virtual travel - and all the signs suggest we aren't - then perhaps Airbus and its partners need to put more energy into the Clean Sky programme for greener planes.

Reality check: Greener planes aren't enough: we need to cut down on air travel full stop. In a report for Friends of the Earth, the University of Manchester's Tyndall Centre says that in addition to lower-carbon aircraft we need "a radical and immediate programme of demand management" - that is, fewer flights. Maybe we need VR after all.

10. Hack the planet

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but Geoengineering - using technology to change the planet - is being taken seriously, with suggestions including thousands of orbiting mirrors or high-altitude balloons to reflect solar energy; seeding the atmosphere with particles - dropped from aircraft or fired from giant cannons - to mimic the effect of a volcanic explosion, cooling down the entire planet; or using laser beams to break up unwanted chemicals in the atmosphere.

Reality check: Will it work? Nobody's entirely sure, and some observers describe the proposals as "madness".

So will technology save the planet? We asked Greenpeace UK, who told us: "Technology will be absolutely key to winning the climate change fight, but the tools we need are available right now. Years of neglect have left our renewable energy capacity languishing right at the bottom of the European league table, and our politicians still seem to lack the urgency needed to tackle this problem."

According to Greenpeace, big ideas are great - but there's stuff we can do in the short term, too. "Projects like an interconnected renewable energy grid which spans the whole of Europe are vital, but in the short term we must ensure that this Government doesn't lock us into decades of carbon pollution by giving approval for outdated projects like a new coal fired power station proposed for Kingsnorth in Kent."

"We have some of the finest engineers in the world, the best renewable energy resources in Europe and a British economy crying out for more green collar jobs. What we need now is real political courage to bring about a new industrial revolution in clean energy."