a chronicle of an experiment. northrop in 45 minutes on d w. ah, what people have to say to us. ah, that's why we loosen stores reporter every weekend on d. w. a . ah, no more nuclear. that's what germany decided in april 2023. when it powered down

its last 3 nuclear plants, the reaction has been mixed. some celebrated what they saw as the end of an unsafe energy source. others ask whether there are enough alternatives to replace it. because this is a question that's not going away. how do we cover our ever growing energy needs? we present you with one idea that brings the added benefit of reducing plastic waste. and here's what else we're talking about. on today's edition of made in germany. how renewable energy ritz australia has become a climate villain. how artificial intelligence can help make houses earthquake proof and how rising interest rates of push startups into crisis mode. but 1st, one austrian company has found a way to kill 2 birds with one stone producing green energy while cutting down on

plastic waste. a warning though, this may leave you feeling squeamish. luckily, our reporter mailto spit has a strong stomach. this is his report. ah, turning plastic into fuel for trains, ships, buses, and plains, with the help of this feces or sewage sludge. not nice, but together they can make a fuel that can power the world yet because we produce green hydrogen at source. on our my i turned the initial idea into a business. the been a fin that i made up with the inventor of the technology and bought the patents from hell when the about get after i had to pinch myself that i was really doing this. but i just went on with my gut instinct on, gets woman is so torn. that's why we turned human waste into power. that's the philosophy philosophy on this vehicle. and then for that, i was ready to immediately found a company, employ engineers, and so far,

invest 4000000 euros without state aid t n one is start leaky hill here. oh, layla then and central austria is where the company plant is located. it's a pilot plant designed to test the idea on an industrial scale. this is roughly how it works. dr. sludge from sewer plants is burned with the help of pure oxygen. the temperature inside the tank reaches 1500 degrees celsius. so hot that the plastic breaks down into its individual components. these include hydrogen, which is separated off and purified. the remaining waste is rich and phosphate. the other byproduct is c o. 2. the waste can be used as fertilizer in the agricultural sector. book while the c o

2 can go to the beverage industry. this plastic int he last. it contains a lot of hydrogen which is not normally used. it gets thrown into this seal burned in incinerated. but we can use it turn in via not sin. but the process requires very high temperatures, doesn't that use a lot of energy in a key in the energy is generated by this sewage sludge itself. yeah. it has very good combustion properties as long as it's dry. so it creates the energy that is needed, said bob or that leads to a raging fire, which allows the hydrogen to be extracted from the plastic. tests at the pilot plant have so far been a success. now it has to prove itself in regular operation, just indicates that to allow. we're now looking for investors knockin with i've proven what this company that it works in. and now we want to scale that up all over world wide growth. so we're seeking funding right now. i'm the only one

providing the funding on beneath the insignificant and he's expecting the demand for hydrogen to increase rapidly in the coming years with the climate friendly gas to, to replace other fuel like crude oil. but so far, it's been cheaper to rely on fossil fuels than produce hydrogen. with this new technology boast would be about the same price. to build the 1st industrial plant to use plastic as a raw material and recycle mountains of waste in the process. one of the thing about the discussion around how best to meet energy demand is that it often quickly turns ideological, that's true for nuclear power and it's true for so called a fuels as well. that's a climate neutral fuel that many and the automotive industry are hoping we'll save the internal combustion engine from the rapidly approaching electric car age. but it's not without its critics.

ah, carmakers, our hobby e fuels will keep the internal combustion engine alive as a c. o 2 neutral alternative to fossil fuels. if he was, are synthetically produced fuels made from electricity, water, and carbon dioxide, but not crude oil. e fuels do the same job as gas in diesel, except they're considered environmentally friendly. but are they really? it depends on the energy used to produce them. if power from renewable resources is used, e fuel production really is climate neutrals, compared to gas and diesel producing e fuels has less of an environmental toll. there are no carbon emissions involved in their production nor in their use. so could e fuels make the internal combustion engine, carbon neutral?

yes, but e fuels are still very inefficient. an e fuel car uses only 10 to 15 percent of the energy that goes into making the fuels a battery powered electric car uses 70 to 80 percent. let's take an example. consider a 3 megawatt windmill. it can power about 1600 electric cars. but if we use it to produce e fuels, it can only power 250 inefficient means expensive if the electricity costs of powering a car with a fuel, our 6 times higher that sunday dr. starts to become a luxury. that's why skeptics called e fuels the champagne of propulsion c o. 2 neutral ladies by the expensive and inefficient,

lose. the australian outback, a vast stretch with pockets of untamed nature. but when temperatures rise to nearly 50 degrees celsius, as they did a few years ago, he would ways of forest and meadowland go up in flames than it's less than a delay. australia is feeling the effects of climate change acutely, but its economy is built on high polluting industries that enjoy especially a solid backing from the government at the expense of climate protection. this country doesn't make sense, but has pristine nature. horrific wildfire. and is one of the richest countries with some of the best renewable resources in the world. when i say hello, we say good i, because here, every day is a good day. but despite having an easier job stopping climate change than most and way more even to do so, australians are along the world worst polluted. den,

lobbying was immersed and their ambitions weaker. so how did australia become a climate villain? and the kind of clean up its act up to understand australia, climate policy, you have to understand its economy, which was built on mining its resources and shipping them to east asia in the u. s . a big pot that was coat just 2 decades ago. australia made 80 percent of its electricity from cold today that share is still around 50 percent. that's twice as much of the u. s. bonds and 25 times more than the u. k. but the fuel it burns at home isn't the only problem. australia also exports more coal than any country except indonesia and all that shows in its politics. for the last decade, a coalition of conservative parties pushed co friendly policies and pushed back on

basic climate science. they were kicked out in 2022, giving australia chance to finally clean up its act. but it, with the actions of the old look that gave australia the reputation of the climate villain. when we turn out to international meetings, we always get the wooden spoon we're always cold out as a legged. this is kate crowley. she studied australia's climate policy or the last decade how policy positions. if you read between the lines there always, well will do anything but actually kind of missions who do anything but actually reduce the amount of coal we're exploring. will do anything but make a profit transition. the most obvious reason for australia slow progress is it's coal, oil, and gas industries. and the power it's lobbyists, wheeled over politicians, the media and to make matters worth australia, some of the week of political finance load them on rich country. in the last

election, unidentified political donors gave the big party of more than $90000000.00 australian dollars. now this money comes from donald with all sorts of interest. but what's outrageous that australians have no idea which industry the buy influence. it's very difficult to disentangle that level of influence, you'd have to do some about strengthening political lobbying laws, implants were done, i suppose, for stop now, for a country burns are badly by extreme weather. it seems strange that people haven't demanded the government stand up to the fossil fuel industry. but there is a good reason for this. a passes and media with one site downplaying climate change . first have a look at this fear mongering from the climate council. are you sure australia emissions really could make a difference? a surprisingly large chunk of australian meteor than the hands of one powerful man and the 3 biggest newspapers earned by rupert murdoch,

the 91 year old media mogul behind fox news in the us. his company news cos trailer, also in the tv channel sky news, australia murdock's papers have historically so doubt about scientific facts and detect policy that could cut pollution and the coverage of policies to stop global warming was twice as likely to be negative than positive things have started to change, at least a bit. in 2020, rupert murdoch's youngest son, james cold out his father's media and pipe a climate denial as bush by the ravaged australia. and then he quit. yet later, the company surprised everyone with a campaign to highlight the benefits of cutting emissions new school pipe is embattled and bought new inventory position this morning with a 16 page wrap around aging action on climate change. so the company is moving away from open climate denial, but is still pushing to delay action. one argument, that is what particularly well is the idea that fighting climate change will cost australian jobs. australia's home to some of the world's biggest mining companies.

the industry makes up about 10 percent of the countries g, d, p, and politicians, journalists, and business executive shout about this loudly. a proposed game is already threatening future contracts, putting the jobs of $500.00 staff at risk with our capital projects, with our projects, with no job. so, and then what about to trade off the jobs more than we're finding new jobs for fossil fuel work because it's important. but the role that coal, oil, and gas plays, way smaller than australian think is perception that fossil fuels are really crucial to the strain economy in terms of jobs is fundamental in sort of narrative, again, climate action. but really like, it doesn't really stack ha, in, in, you know, in practical times this is climate timeless to meet for even cat, the super money. and she found australians overestimate the size of gas and oil

industry employment by a factor of $58.00. it's a similar story for coke. people think coal mining makes up 30 percent of g d p. it's actually 10 times less. the weird thing here is that not only does australia have enough sun and wind to make loads of renewable energy, it also have huge deposits of mineral that a key to cleaning up the economy like corporate lithium. and despite all the denial australians are pretty supportive of stopping climate change, which given the fires in floods than droughts that they're living through maybe isn't say surprising. the australian institute study from 75 percent of australians are concerned about climate change. 79 percent want to phase out coal plugs. those are pretty large figures that show the opinions of australians that maybe doesn't stack up so much with this idea that australians on the whole of climate denies that mindset played a big role in the last election. the new government has set

a target to cut emissions 43 percent by 2030 from that 2005 levels. movies target sauce guilty week to stop the planet heating 1.5 degrees celsius the level. well, lita said they tried to info, but it would get it down to about 2 degrees. but a spite of higher ambition, the new government has 2 big problems. the 1st of the number of fossil fuel projects that plans to build a straight 117 new fossil fuel projects in the pipeline. and so even though you get approved, even those going through, that's going to blow all of our emissions, you know, over any limit that we set. but the big problem is the reliance on carbon offsets to clean up the economy. the government wants to make industry emit less, c o 2 feature good at produce. the limit will shrink about 5 percent each year. but instead of forcing companies to pollute less the government, letting some of them buy certificate that say they've avoided pollution elsewhere. a lot of the time by planting trees or protecting forests is never climate that

they can't stop new projects. they can keep polluting, they can keep expanding, they can keep increasing their emissions as long as they buy offsets, that's totally fine. still, australia is cleaning up its energy system cheap, renewable energy of displacing fossil fuels. even my policy is weak. and even where the federal government has been slower, some states have moved fust queensland in victoria getting out of cold, tasmania electricity grid is already 100 percent renewable. and it wants to generate double, it's need from clean energy by 2040 australia. reputation of climate villain makes sense. it for policies to clean up the economy. lobbyists and journalists have kept it up on fossil fuels. but it's people won't change. and that's something that starting to show as we saw in that report, there are a lot of ways the government can leave its people vulnerable to disaster. another way is to neglect earthquake safety. the earthquake in turkey in syria shows

a just how much damage this neglect can cause techniques to construct buildings to withstand seismic activity, how long existed, and no artificial intelligence can improve that process further. although of course, even better would be if a i could help keep corruption and shoddy contracting out of construction till felix polishing are reports. ah, more than 2000000 people worldwide live in regions with an increased risk of earthquakes. but how do you construct an earthquake resistant buildings? one rule of thumb is studying quite prone regions. the length of the building shouldn't be more than 3 times it's width. and the height shouldn't exceed 4 times the with japan is a pioneer in earthquake resistant building. and so as chilling

but what materials are best suited for building and quake tron regions? wood is considered earthquake resistant. as is bamboo. wood is usually inexpensive and locally available to buildings made of bricks and clay. on the other hand, often collapsing in earthquake bricks are also heavy and can crush people that leads to a significantly higher depth told and quake building projects in bangladesh have shown that adobe clay is also low cost, and seismic resistant, it's strengthened with jude sacks. then there are new technologies avail that are designed to prevent concrete buildings from collapsing like a house of cards. that's what happened here in turkey during the earthquake in

february with one invention. the roof is equipped with sliding weight. sensors implanted in the walls, allow an algorithm to calculate in real time what level of force is required to counteract the tremors of an earthquake and stabilize the building. it uses the sliding weights to offset the shaking and rebalance the building. the aim mister, minimize damage and prevent its collapse. so here came the idea of putting some intelligence that in this type of technology is the need of putting a brain in this machine. in order to let it, i understand where it is installing the what are the changes needed, you know, the court in order to adopt the instructor and being adaptable during the her make to the changes of the structure. the system is similar to the pendulums range, several 100 tons that are already used and skyscrapers. yes,

sensor. so you can always monitor the structure. and even after the her thing you can immediately say is the building is fine. if often an earthquake, it is damaged it, okay, it absorb energy and people in your inside are fine, which is which is the important part. but these mean so, so that you are accept the fact that the building can be damaged after the her make that which is a problem. because then becomes a cost either for the owner either for the institutions. so here come see me play our technology. well, hi, rises are generally built with flexible steel frames. this means in a quake they can sway with the tremors, making a collapse less likely. mm. large buildings can also have special systems and seismic shock absorbers installed under their foundations, misty cup. the building from the substructure allowing it to serve the tremors and sway only slightly. people and governments often shy away from the cost of building

earthquake resistant tones. but in the event of a quake, it limits the material damage and prevents unimaginable suffering. advancements and artificial intelligence and its applications are often 1st hatched in startups. but even these cradles of innovation are on shaky ground. higher interest rates have made capital difficult to come by. last march, silicon valley bank, a preferred lending outfit for start up, went bankrupt, and the effects rippled a far beyond the american start up ecosystem. they're being felt in germany to now if securing financing used to be about having a vision. now it's about having a solid profit generating business model. here is a report from marta green's in scott and the new pragmatism in the startup sector. ah, modern and cosmopolitan. berlin offers good prospects for up and coming entrepreneurs

. the german capital is currently home to 3000 startups employing over 70000 people . but after years of growth, finding investors have now become more difficult. major startups like corner tier and good tear have all laid off staff, allah's office, yet everything that's happened from the rising interest rates to the economic situation. the ukraine crisis on the banking crisis that popped up briefly. that's all having an effect on startups of the in the 9. in this, it means that investors are a bit hesitant to back their investments. and to provide follow on financing. there's a wait and see approach in the market dive and bob mark last year, just under 10000000000 euros were invested in startups in germany. that's a drop of 43 percent compared to the record year of 2021.

booking kit is a system for booking tourist attractions, like these museums and leisure parks. the startup fell on hard times in 2020. when the whole of europe was shut down due to the pandemic, lucas hempel had to lay off 20 percent of his staff. now he's more optimistic about the future in the i bit and they're in a world where the future is looking more and more uncertain. we need to adjust to that uncertainty. thus, as to the wooden side, there's this idea of the so called gluco world. it's where everything is volatile, ambiguous, and where you can't plan ahead a. and so the way we respond to that is to always think in terms of different scenarios, mission for fitness and i. and so we have the perfect scenario. that midway scenario and the negative scenario, and he got his scenario one and we're constantly looking at the data to see which scenario we're currently heading towards. mid to planning and thinking ahead has

become more important than ever. the focus is on efficiency in organic growth rather than rapid expansion. finding investors now takes longer. company founders need a good business idea and stress resistant financial plan. got in brookside funds on the, especially in the boone years of 2019 and even more so in 20202021. it was all about having a big vision like this one and being able to convey that effectively to investors boxing and really going for growth. and by that, those are still important aspects. but now you also need a solid business model. you need to be able to handle money and use your capital efficiently. if it's an id, was absent for gov tech, things are easier. start up in this area, offer new digital solutions for the public sector. in uncertain times,

the state still makes for a secure and reliable customer. a company poly tear automates many procedures for local authorities across germany. history yet we're now seeing much stronger interest than before the economic downturn, by because investors are looking more closely at how efficient business models are and how well money is used and whether the customers are financially secure, couldn't be title. and of course, working for the authorities is quite different than dealing with the vagaries of consumers. suddenly changed their minds and they say my, my no income the years of plenty might be over, but started still attract a lot of interest. investors just look at firms more closely before committing their cash. in that sense, the market has simply become more normal. i, for one have always believed if it's good, then the universe will make space for it. that was made in germany. thank you very much for joining us this week. i'm janelle de milan take care

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who is our ways to get him flushed all the way to the arctic circle a. the question don't make a few resident wants to build loading tracking devices and releases them into the elbow river. where will the current take them?

the chronicle of an experiment. the north drift in 15 minutes on d. w to the point in strong opinion is that clear positions, international perspectives, top secret documents leaked online, have provided detailed accounts and some of ukraine's military capabilities. and are rare window is how with united states released the war join me and our expert guests on this week's edition of to the quite as we tie been to the pentagon makes to the point a few minutes on d. w. 2 whole or share a scoring built by

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