well, you visionary and the primitivist diplomat who always gets straight to the point the good to institutes outgoing director. close to tell a man we look at his final year in office and his in press of career limiting the last cultural diplomat starts nov 16th on d w. you knew there were people who believe you can do whatever you want to our planet and nature will just take its course. mother. nature is much muddier than us. still, our world is also a precarious place. the ecosystems we live in can be extremely delicate,

but that won't always convince someone supercycle all buy stuff with less packaging or use renewable energy, or stop driving a car or eating meat. heat flow convincing the economics of doling green. thanks for joining us here, mate, i'm ben physical and you can get wind water and sun for free. so why have we been digging around for oil all this time? well, the tech was still too expensive, but it's not anymore. and there are bigger and even bolder projects, like harnessing the force of the wind produced on the high seas. now, even though the wind is a lot stronger there, then on land offshore pocs aren't set to become the key to germany's energy transition. our reporter goes, wanted to find out why, for someone afraid of heights he took this is simon to a whole new level when meeting the founder of one of europe's biggest wind farm operators. i'm eating close my eyes who founded the energy

company, w. p. d. one of europe's biggest wind farm operators, w p. d runs clean energy parks on the andaman sea that produced a lot of power 1st. i have to prove, i don't have for the coal. the carbon is 80 meters tall. it's pretty windy up here . i have a question for him. will it work? can germany carry out the green energy transition using only offshore wind farms? coal and no clear and o.t. generate about half of germany's electricity. that's bad for the end. vironment there in a given day or energy transition wants to change that much more electricity needs to be generated by solar and wind power. because my own knows that some germans oppose wind farms. w.p.b. also installs wind turbines offshore or that see beyond the horizon and they can't

disturb anyone's few. couldn't all of our electricity be generated there. this is the world's biggest offshore wind farm. it's turbines megas, humans look like tiny ends and comparison. there are as big as the eiffel tower and can power $16000.00, households, germany consumes around $550.00, terawatt, r.'s of electricity each year. it would take more than $10000.00 of these turbines to generate that much energy. so that could work each class and what need more than a square kilometer in space on the north sea of a baltic. that what i mean twice as many turbines and german waters than currently allowed at what we'd better for germany to get some electricity from its neighbors . w.p.b. installs one turbines all over the world. what do they think?

assuming an annual consumption of 550 terawatt hours can all of that be generated offshore? if i install turbines across the entire north sea and baltic economic area, i could just about manage it, but it's not realistic. there are technological and environmental reasons not to do it. fishing vassal of generally have to keep away from offshore wind turbines because their nets can destroy the underwater cables. and there are large nature conservation areas for throughout plants and wildlife in the north sea and the baltic. so space is limited. my initial contribution, none of the world's major coastal countries will be able to drive all of their electricity from offshore wind pox. let's take a look around the globe. even a large island, such as great britain with its long coastline with ballet manage, only small islands would be able to get all of they are energy from offshore wind pox. so what's the solution?

offshore wind parks council apply enough electricity. how could germany meet all its energy needs with renewables? and with the right solution is a mix of renewal sources, gas will play a key role and hydro power a limited wind. solar power has massive potential, and that can be a part of the mix. but the driving force will be onshore and offshore wind energy. off germany already gets more than half of its electricity from renewable sources. it wants to hit almost 100 percent renewables by 2038. scientists have calculated what the energy mix won't look like them. at 300 terawatt cars, onshore wind parks would deliver more energy than offshore ones. but why is it that on shore wind farms like this will deliver the most electric?

the systems that are being built today are much more powerful. with the $30000.00 wind turbines, we already have in germany will be able to produce 3 times as much electricity. so after wind parks won't be enough. what's needed is an energy mix. and that will change germany's landscape brain bigger and more modern onshore wind turbines. and even more offshore turbines generating power at sea funds from germany's renewable energy sources act have guaranteed high returns and such as start up financing for a whole host of green energy providers. beginning in 2021, those subsidies will expire for plants that are more than 20 years old. that aleve, many bio gas plants, solar and wind turbine operators are profitable, also throwing a spanner into the works. the coronavirus lockdowns have seen energy demand plunge

. we went to meet some of the small electricity produces will lose out this wind turbine has been in operation for 20 years now and can still produce renewable electricity. but the operators have decided to close because the state guaranteed subsidies have run out. we have decided to take the plant off the grid on december 31st and we will dismantle all the turbines and scrap them wind power and bio gas are a key part of germany, switch to green energy. yet state subsidies for this bio gas plant are also running out after 20 years of haps, the subsidies were too generous at 1st. and now suddenly the tap is being turned off. and that's difficult. above all, because people assume that the subsidy program would be continued at the moment. there are long faces all around. it's our van, a diatom on used to be a farmer,

but he switched to electricity production. instead, he feeds his bio gas plant with maize silent, and horse manure, and feeds the electricity generated into the national grid. the state has been paying him a feed in tariff of up to $0.24 per kilowatt hour, irrespective of current electricity prices. i get $22.00 to $0.24 now and that will drop to $0.18, but i have to save the difference somewhere. and at the moment i don't see any way to cut costs in the production process. in fact, the plant needs more investment to ensure it turns a profit in the future and die tomorrow is also missing out on an important source of income. he cannot sell the heat that's produced along with the power. his former farm is too far from developed areas for that and his fields are too small to enable him to run the bio gas plant with

homegrown maize. he has to buy it from neighboring farmers at considerable expense, to continue operating by a gas plants with fewer state subsidies. operators will need to make significant investments. that's what us has done. he's able to sell his waste heat and can feed his bio gas into the gas grid. the munich local authority buys the bio methane from him. to make that happen, he spent some 2000000 euros upgrading his facility. that's beyond the reach of many energy producers. if you don't want to drive my colleagues into bankruptcy, but you have to do your sums very carefully. and in some cases, the most sensible decision might involve shutting down the bio gas plant. that's what van i die tomorrow is likely to end up doing. he would have to invest

over a half a 1000000 euros to upgrade his plant at just 15 years from retirement. that's a financial risk. he's unlikely to take wind power operator. hawse tomatoes is also planning to shut up shop. the wind farm earned him and his partners a comfortable income over the last 20 years. but the good times are now over. he estimates that around 40 percent of wind turbines, in the northern german state of lower saxony are no longer cost effective. you can work it out for yourself. we produce 700000 kilowatt hours of electricity. we get $0.09. now that means we're paid a feed in tariff of tween 50060000 euros,

but if that drops to below $20000.00 euros a year, and it's not going to cover our costs that renewables seem to be on the retreat without state subsidies, some 40 percent of old bio gas plants are also no longer profitable. the government's price guarantees helped green energy find its feet in germany. now the industry is having to go it alone. the whole world could be on the cusp of a giant boom in solar energy though. and that's because of the huge drop in the price of the technology. international renewable energy agency says in the past decade, solar costs of fallen by 82 percent. we visited an energy provider that's installing, germany's biggest, so the park in the state of bread. these panels are pretty easy to install, but there are thousands of them still to go in the countryside near berlin, germany biggest folder park is taking shape to us. and europe is the project

manager for the world. photovoltaics sector has been growing significantly in recent years. between 20102012, there was a big expansion. and then 3 years ago there was another major increase in terms of rooftop systems, but also on the ground operations. big solar parks are really taking on germany is aiming to phase out coal powered by 2030 days. and nuclear power will be switched off soon. 2. so will solar be able to meet the country's energy needs? and how will it change the landscape? half a 1000000 modules built on metal frames, 119 posts, 250 kilometers of cable 156 years. working on behalf of one of germany's biggest energy companies.

we definitely have the potential to complete projects of this scale, but rather than size, it's the viability of the project that counts for your truck for this solar park is the size of $225.00, soccer pitches, facilities in europe tend to be smaller because they compete with agriculture for the arab areas of india, for example, from solar parts can provide enough electricity for half a 1000000 households. but solar parks alone aren't enough. here in germany, there are 19000000 apartment buildings and houses a lot of roof space and an ideal place for solar panels. an entire industry has been built around installing now adays, the systems are very affordable and economical to run. since you basically don't

have any maintenance costs, have become so affordable to install that they quickly pay for themselves. out moksha owns a house with every top solar system. in many cases, the system actually produces more energy than a household needs. as one of the things that makes it financially worthwhile is that the cost of heating your house or heating your water are pretty low. to the equipment paid for itself in just a few years after that the alec trysting produced is essentially free max fathers' energy needs do exceed 40 producers though. that's because his family have 2 electric cars that need to be

recharged needs as one of the things that makes it financially worthwhile is that the cost of heating your house or heating your water are pretty low. to the equipment paid for itself in just a few years. after that the electricity produced is essentially free. max fathers' energy needs do exceed 40 producers though. that's because his family have 2 electric cars that need to be recharged

all germany's approved for use to generate solar power. they cover the country's energy needs. company parks across europe. and solar systems are important, but they won't cover our energy needs on their own. you have to set priorities 1st, you have to figure out which roofs are technically suitable. and then you have to figure out which ones of those are financially viable. solar energy is expected to see significant growth in germany. by the time the last coal fired power station is switched off and 2030 years, there would have to be 5 times as many rooftop solar systems around parks as there are now to cover energy needs. solar energy would then account for

a quarter of the country's power. i would post the number of orders for new solar parks is growing fast. what's behind the boom? in the last decade, solar modules have decreased in price to around a 10th of what they were originally. we can now produce electricity in germany for $4.00 to $0.06 per kilowatt hour. you can't do that in a coal fired plant or nuclear power station, even after the initial investment has been paid off. back to germany because the owner of park project 10 years ago, the operating company was one of the biggest nuclear power, pretty city in the country. they still run several coal fired plants, but that will soon be a thing of the past. these new energy sources will have to fill the gap. they've become

a central pillar in our portfolio. since 2012, we've seen growth in all new and renewable segments, including wind both offshore and onshore as well. this. these technologies will account for about half of our output by 2025. i need this solar panels made in china. just keep on coming day in day as it's hoped to the park will be in operation by the end of the year. like washing machines and dishwashers, smartphones also seem to give up the ghost right after the warranty runs out. the child can burn a hole in your pocket. but is it a coincidence? or does it have more to do with clever sales strategy known as planned, obsolescence? our reporter decided to find out you

probably know that heart stopping moment when your phone breaks your photos messages, contacts. when was the last time i saved a backup, basically our whole life because of these things which makes it so annoying when they break. but it happens all the time. what's interesting about the smartphone is pretty much everything. it breaks. we're going to literally look beyond the surface of these things built to break. so we keep buying new ones. ok, i think and we're going to find out what happened to all these broken phone. well, they created massive environmental problems. but let's start at the beginning. this is my old phone. it died a couple of years ago because the battery couldn't hold a charge anymore. today, despite all the clumsiness in the world, united in this body and fix it, this is a repair kit i ordered online for 25 euros. that's the batteries that are trying to

get into the phone. it comes with all the tools you need, pair of tweezers to suction cup tiny little screwdriver, a manual. well, we'll see about that. for now, let's take a look at just how crazy we are about smartphones. we buy around 1500000000 of them every year. when you factor as really must be cheering, a lot of people actually believe they're inflating this thing called planned obsolescence. it was invented to stimulate the economy during the great depression in the us. the basic idea is that the quicker a product breaks the sooner people will replace it with a new one. and some companies really did start to shorten the lifespan of the products. the filaments and light bulbs, for example, were made thinner, so that they would burn out of the just 1000 hours, instead of and nylon stockings were designed on purpose to tear more easily even

though it's actually pretty strong material one time. and so probably for manufacturers because your economic model so is the same true for smartphones. are they designed to break? the planned obsolescence is that there is intent, there is a smoke filled room with evil people. there's a more, ha, ha, we're going to make these things die and 18 months, i'm not sure it works that way. well, instead, the way that this works is that the marketing people are saying to the product. designers don't put any effort in the making this thing last longer than the lifespan the original bad. let's take a look at apple. they were sued because people noticed their phones got a lot slower after they installed a software update. and guess what? in 2017, apple admitted this was true and later agreed to pay a settlement. but they said there throttled the phones to extend their lifespan,

not to get people to replace them. is this really true? maybe the thing is companies might be doing this, but it's extremely hard to actually prove it. well, i want to talk to them about this. i reached out to the 3 biggest smartphone producers, a lot of them replied. but even if we can't be sure about planned obsolescence, they've got other ways to sell more phones. biggest advantage in the history, by far, the most advanced, the most advanced i phone we've ever created. every release of a new phone model is basically saying, the one you bought last year is now olds, get a new one. so, you maintain your position in consumer society by what you own and what you wear, how you present yourself. you don't have to own the pieces of life. this is psychological obsolescence. convincing people they need a new phone,

even though they have one that works perfectly fine. even if you don't care about the latest fashion and would love to keep your old phone forever, let me tell you, they are quite hard to repair. this is the step that i open the case. there's a cable that's in there, so one can't hold it with your hands. if you don't pop it completely open, you're just cracking open. ok. ok, i think of it. imagine if you bought a car and the tires that came with it could not be replaced. so when the tires were out, you had to get rid of the car and get a new car. we would not put up with this. this would be crazy. and yet that's the situation that we have a smart. turns out the cables that are broken, it's not that important, but this is really hard. there are tiny screws that you need special screwdrivers for. and the biggest challenge, i think this is, is removing the old battery,

which is glued into the case. making things hard or impossible to repair. that's another strategy to get people to replace them more often. it's coming off. all that's left to do now is piece the whole thing back together. by the way, you're going to void your warranty. the moment you open up your phone, so before you attempt to repair anything, be absolutely sure you know what you're doing. not like me. so it really closing up here, which makes me think i reassembled something wrong and you know, this is going in well up to this point, it went pretty well, but i just can't get this thing to shut. how hard do they want to make it? i think and feed it. yeah, that's thing is not powering on anymore. i tried for hours and couldn't replace

something as simple as a battery. most likely what is happening is that you have a loose cable. that's my remote tech support. i think you can still get this thing running if you, if not, i don't feel bad about he then your repair shop that's in the furniture or you could just throw it out. i mean, that's what a lot of us do and not just with our phones so that nobody speaking, we're generating, you know, only less than 20 percent of this is properly recycled. the rest poses a real danger to the environment. spam to people who process it or it never leaves our homes. look at wall material is still sleeping in the watch was. busy you know, was valuable research, very limited resources. this work all this material is not available for the work

ethic. and the senator is rooting for the point to consumers. consumers a point, i think at the end of the day everyone, it's being responsible lyrian, a completely unsustainable electronics industry. and it's all of our fault. and we can do better. we can that we should and we must do better, couldn't agree more. all those useless cables packed away in boxes, a time over devices that become obsolete. it's easy just to dump them. but what about recycling them? at least all of refusing to buy them in the 1st place? that's a little high, but it would save you a lot of money than always having to keep up with the latest trends. the economics

of going great in physical and

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take care of yourself. keep your distance and wash your hands. if you can date out how we're d.w.p. for here for you, we are working as hard as we can keep you informed on all of our platforms. we're all in this together, run together, and one may contribute to save everybody. stacey. stacey newman stay safe. increased stay safe world to go beyond the obvious marine live. as we take on the world. we're all about the stories that matter to you. and really, what ever is running now from plane flew made for mines. give us your country,

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this is the dublin years live from donald trump, my 1st public appearance since his defeat in the u.s. president is due to veteran's day the veterans' day holiday. national cemetery is still refusing to give the rights to joe biden, is instead they're pushing unfounded claims of voter fraud. bring you live coverage also on the program. hong kong's pro-democracy legislators resigned on

his walk out after 4 colleagues of representatives deemed to be threats to national security. you are 300000000 doses of a new vaccine germany and the us, the head of the commission says it's the most promising results so far. welcome to the program. we'll start by taking you live to the united states and the allington national cemetery in virginia. u.s. president. donald trump is due to make use of 1st official post-election appearance of veterans day after spending the last few days at the white house, making unfounded claims about voter irregularities in last week's presidential election. mr. trump asked, not yet to concede to joe biden, who's been projected to win the election and to become the 46 president of the

united states. so that's the same at the national cemetery as a president due to their very shortly. and of course, what most of us are looking for is some comment about the election. so we'll keep our eye on that scene. here with me in the studio, is that peter roland dollars and the action that ting? joining us from washington will be our bureau chief in a spall. and if i can start with you while we're waiting for the president to appear, let's start with this official engagement. for those of us outside the u.s., perhaps you could fill us in on the occasion and the setting well, you know, it's very common for a president to go to cemetery, to honor the veterans. that's a very common appearance and probably wouldn't be alive on that. he went,

if it wouldn't be the 1st appearance of the election of donald trump in public. and we just don't know if he wants to say something or not from his schedule, which we get here in washington. a lot of journalists kind of a good read in the schedule of the president of the united states. there are no plans for him to address the public, but we don't know what he has done. things like that before spontaneously talking to reporters on the ground. so we shall see. so just to be clear is what we're expecting is for the president to do won't while he stands there and just all the people, all the soldiers who died in the united states and stands there and pays respect. normally he's not still littering. any speech,

i mean we have to keep in mind the united states has been in many, many wars, and there is hardly any family in this country who has not lost anybody to a war starting, obviously with world war 2 by then all the ongoing war. so this is a very important day and it's actually also a public holiday, so many shops are closed and people staying at home. ok. so that's, that's the plan that a silent tribute from the president of the united states, from the w.'s election to you. of course, as you just mentioned, why we're all paying so much attention to this is this is the 1st public appearance . this will be his 1st public appearance since the election. he hasn't been entirely silent since then. so just how the just bring us up to date with what with what he's been doing. no, she said no public appearances, but he's very much used. his platform and social media, particularly twitter to continue to contest the election results to essentially say

that he will not concede they will not accept the result that he does not see. president elect joe biden as a legitimate winner, and he's really been continuing to continue to push this message and try to pressure not just on, on his own or on democrats, but also really on more local level republicans who are now overseeing the various recounts that we might be seeing in georgia, for instance, we're putting pressure on republican legislators to really try to push them to go ahead with not just lawsuits, but also contest the results that we can expect in the next couple weeks. ok, thank you for that. peter. on the election also you heard from washington bureau chief in this poll. more from you both later in the program,

perhaps with thank you. we'll continue now with more of the day's news starting in hong kong where all the territories prodemocracy know, because the resigned government removed 4 of their colleagues, the 15 resignations came after the chinese parliament passed a law allowing the chief executive to expel them just like this without having to go through the courts, beijing has defended the legislation as necessary to uphold the rule of law. opposition. lawmakers say it will spell the end of the territories fight for democratic rights. who cares that way in that they were the last remaining pro-democracy lawmakers in hong kong. now they are resigning in solidarity with their colleagues who were deemed threats to national security by beijing. it is yet another blow for their pro-democracy movement. ought to go that they got all the decision made by the national people's congress

today. it is extremely ridiculous. it shows that the central government has completely given up the basic law and given up one country. 2 systems then is quark is one of the 4, expelled lawmakers. he told d.w. that despite the setback, they are not giving up. but i think he can still feel the passion, aspiration, local community in the hearts of people, the aspirations for the rule of law, freedom and progress. i think that is not going to go begging, defended the new resolution, and denied its restricting hong kong special freedoms. they were implemented in 1997, after the city was handed back to china from british rule. true or not. tell me where you went. you didn't turn to this year before. it is

a necessary measure in order to maintain the rule of law in hong kong. and the constitutional order of the special autonomous region where you the fight is rational and reasonable. and in line with the constitution and laws they recently moved to clamp down on opposition, voices in hong kong by imposing a national security law. after months of anti-government protests, hong kong semi autonomous status was originally guaranteed until 2047, but for some the end date has already arrived. well, they doubly correspondent kong has been following events from taiwan. welcome thinking, what was kerry lums justification for dismissing the original 4 lawmakers. well, one of the most controversial parts of their this qualification is that beijing has taken and chosen an extraordinary path to achieve its so if by making

a decision and resolution in beijing itself late, letting the matter be resolved in a local level in hong kong and there has been actually, there is existing mechanics, them in hong kong to unseat a lawmaker. but now the resolution as simply and power as the whole whole noko and ministration to unseat anyone. they see there and they enjoy a national security. so that's why some of the legal experts and also politicians are physicians actually they're saying that this is arbitrary route and that's why would her stance could be anyone in the future to be unsuited. i think governments and, but carol them deny such accusations, saying that this is totally constitutional and legal because the nation's health legislature has the power to interpret and to our clarified the law and given of her despite the fact that she actually didn't give any specific argument and

africans are there. so how primal, how they, how they valise, the national security principles. she refers to the time that those all along it has. this qualifier banned from running for office in july, so that's why they shouldn't be allowed to stay in office as well. ok, so with no pro-democracy lawmakers left in hong kong's legislature. does that mean the end of the fight for democracy in the territory? this is indeed a major setback for the hold opposition came. because as we know, after the imposition of the national security and all we can hardly see any kind of massive street, protests and activists, some to be carrying on to play on the streets. people are to have brains and mr. coney island so close to home. you know, rules, lakes in turkey across the pond, who's cheating with me in the street activism. but now without the,

the how manchurians inside the chamber, it actually leaves the opposition movement. even more vulnerable. i think way than most of the m.p.'s we have spoken to and they remain quite, i cautiously optimistic this and they're going to return to community and to possibly maybe they're closer into running for the next election there, which is those phone from next year isn't china? likely to welcome the self removal of these people and presumably he regards as troublemakers or beijing abilities in hong kong and also lecturing them. and her ministrations didn't directly respond to the like the mass resignation of the opposition coming back and saying that this is their own choice. we'll look at the response from the chinese authorities. and they are saying that these moves they made today is to ensure that only patriots can play so inside the hong kong

political institution. and by that sense, and by the resignation of ho oxygen came in some way they have achieved what they thought there was. thank you for that correspondent, phoebe kong in time well, the european commission has signed a deal to secure up to 300000000 doses of a covered 19 vaccine developed by germany's a biotech and us or pharmaceuticals giant pfizer commission president or sort of on the line. it described it as the most promising vaccine so far it's been undergoing trials involving thousands of people in many countries. the manufacturers say it's more than 90 percent effective against the virus. now belgium has one of the world's highest recovered 19 death rates, a sharp increase in new cases as force the government to reimpose a partial lockdown and d.-w. correspondent, teri schultz reports the rules are being rigorously enforced. time's up for

coronavirus rule breakers in belgium. the warnings didn't work to convince people to wear masks, limit gatherings, to 4 people and obey the evening curfew. so the next step is strict enforcement by police inspectors, like emily chua and castor. they've become the belgian authorities, last line of defense against the sky. high infection rate, their weapon, a 250 euro, fine. people must go over for their orders are to accept few excuses. let me get a 5 years through if that were his most loyal customer there for a lot of money or something. look, everybody knows. just save for everyone. i don't show up for us to use able to bait or not know their business. their business is to make sure that what the prime minister has called the last chance to get control of the virus isn't wasted. the

fear of having it take it, having a fine is going to stop some people from committing infractions. of course, they're going to be behaviors that we are forcing or indeed stopping to disease. there's one area where officers are being more tolerant now than during the 1st wave of the pandemic. that's for people who can't stay home because they don't have one. during the last lockdown, many of them received fines, plain clothes officer chris founder, how to is in a special police unit designed to help get people off the streets. he and his colleagues asked the corona patrols to take it easy on the homeless this time around. the ideal scenario that it would be that we have place and shelter for everybody. but we're not in that situation for the moment. we have to be a little bit flexible for those people. more working like sense and sensible eyes, them to, to wear the mask, to keep their distance. but they're part of the street. so they're in the streets

as a last resort. those who must or want to stay outside can now get a document to show the police and avoid a penalty founder how to agrees that for the rest of the population, the tough approach is unfortunately necessary when you have people who doesn't want to listen and always make the argument, say mistakes a mistake for mistakes you made. you have to give them a fine, you know, they have to feel it somewhere. hundreds of those $250.00 euro infractions are still being issued every week, according to the brussels police. on this night. however, by the 10 pm curfew downtown is deserted, the officers say they hope this means people finally comprehend just how bad the coronas situation is. if everybody here what's happening really.