W. At the risk of sounding corny id say todays show is about me not as food for people or animals but feel to generate electricity this share of energy from renewable sources is growing every year especially in asia. Europe and north america. Most of the energy is produced from biomass from Something Like me. But the other sources arent doing so badly either. However ive come under a lot of criticism recently while you see for yourself. This field is lush and green but in a way its a desert a desert of corn planted to produce biofuel fields like this cover more than a 1000000 hectares in germany corn provide. Hardly any food for insect biologists say thats one reason for massive insect die offs. When committed by 90 you cant generate biodiversity with a single type of plant a monoculture so you need to sow a range of different plants to get a range of insects it just doesnt work with corn. The idea is to replace the corn with plants that can also be used to produce biofuel and provide food for insects at the same time. Up to 30 different species should begin flowering here soon. So far only come a mile is visible. To see look at the state of that disgusting even though its a loss something nicely of us fighting is all wrong we want to have a field of flowering prairie shot here we need biomass this senseless camel mile has reached just 77 metres in height thats not enough mass we should have some flowers here now perennial sunflowers this tall thats the plant plunkers and has been like this for years but this year awful. Its a failure come a mile produces hardly any energy and offers very little nutrition for insects yet. The scientists want to examine the field more closely perhaps the sunflowers have germinated underneath to come a mile. A walkable strip is cleared so that they can see what plants they have here. Insect traps are set up to check whether more bugs are being drawn to the field. With a measuring stick and a case report forms they set to work looking for anything that might be growing underneath the rampant. Cornelia mazzini records the amount and height of each flower species often fans were looking for various species that were sown here and the main component of the mixture right. Is the hemi on those maximillian the perennial sunflower thats here in thats there year i understand. That in your state its taken a good foothold here. Theres a caterpillar thats not all but. Even if such perennial shrubs provide food for insects that indigenous to north america and asia critics fear they might crowd out native species. This and i misspelled comment did you get off on those are actually claims that have never been investigated their assumptions but do you have to consider that we are here in germany the land of immigration side we have a level of biodiversity which since the ice age has yet to fully recover to what it was before the ice age were trying to show that our front of only accept these wild species from foreign lands just as much as the indigenous species and interestingly we discovered that while beings in particular are very close and its you sales incent. Mazzini is connie into that it is looking at where the bees and other insects can really feed on the pollen of nonindigenous flowering shrubs for example with cylinders like bees in which wild bees build their nests. In the biologists then drive to another field of nonindigenous flowering shrubs. They see right away that its not overgrown with come a mile and boasts many more types of plants theyre not fully grown yet and most arent in flower. Shop not on till we have 7 here and this is siberian mother wart. Japonica in full bloom no. The field has more flowering shrubs and more bugs. It didnt find it very pleased the field is really cleaned out the plants have space around them so they can establish themselves its a real success theres enough light getting through to the soil so the things species can develop well the field is still emerging and i can see theres another vase and we sit here as a young ross and weed and heres a hollyhock all of that goodness if you see a few miles you could mr crow was it all of. The sudden just plan seems to be working here even though the plants are not yet in full bloom there are a lot of. Insects and the field will also produce a lot of bio mass later for generating energy. But the yield will never be as high as it is with corn 50 to 60 percent at most thats a loss for the farmer. Maybe and its a flea you know im not satisfied on the from a but from martinis Program Supporting those so its ok. But farmers would plant more of this if they were supported by the government if there was a Funding Programme to make up for the shortfall i normally have 45. 00 to 50. 00 tonnes of corn in this field its good soil but with this stuff so to speak i need to be compensated to make a profit. Lower yields but increased biodiversity protecting species and agriculture can go together even if the profits are lower. The idea here is that losses can be minimised if farmers keep growing corn but also plant flowering shrubs in between so that the profitable corn is mixed with flowering perennials that benefit insects. Of course will find its easier to grow the same plants every year. But theres a big downside to that according to a study from the. Monoculture has destroyed just as many species as Climate Change. An apparent paradox and crops often grown as monoculture is intended to counteract Global Warming when a mix of energy crops help to restore insect bite of this city. Biologist ingrid has put beehives in this field to see if the insects are feeding on the flowers. Although the field is the bees habitat the scientists want to confirm they also gather pollen here. Only to be sure the pollen comes from this field. Every year we have to make certain that there could be something in the field that the bees havent collected from and that would be Important Information for us. Think of the elite uses a little trick to find out where the pollen comes from 1st she calms the bees with a bit of smoke. Then she uses a grid to block the entrance to the hive. This allows her to gather the pollen that collects on the bees hind legs in their orange colored sacks which she then strips off to examine later. If the bees want to get into the honeycombs in the hive they have to crawl through the grid. The grid openings are so narrow that the insects can just squeeze through. But the pollen on their hind legs sticks to it these samples show how the pollen differs depending on which plant it came from. After an hour the 1st batch is ready for examination. As the shines out its very likely that a lot of this pollen comes from the field but we really have to look carefully under the microscope and confirm that before we know for sure. But what we can see from this pollen is that the bees are using many different plants for their nourishment. In contrast to the monoculture of corn theres more than one flowering perceives in here because one of the 30 or so plant species in the field is always in bloom that means the bees and other insects have food from spring right through to autumn. What about other creatures can they also find a habitat here after all many species of birds live on insects. A camera which automatically takes pictures when it detects movement should tell us. In just a few weeks this photographic trap captures several animals including field hamsters birds and hairs but. It seems that one species attracts the next. The fact that the bees are making a lot of honey shows that theyre thriving in this environment. Charming much of time and it makes me so happy to see a healthy colony like this one was well taken care of adequately supplied with nectar and pollen and the brood nest is beautiful its great fun boss. Obviously this test field with its Energy Plants provides food for the insects. But what about the yield for humans. A field cultivated by a farmer is now in full bloom. My god what am i going on so much buzzing no matter what a few beehives in there there are a couple of 100000 bees out here going to show me one of the cats crazy. Sure to be a little flowers amazing many of the high yielding perennials are not yet fully grown to some degree blowers are going to grow another 50 centimeters right here we have. Or yellow sweet clover thats not yet fully grown you can see it here its spreading its shoes it should grow another 3040 centimeters so there is plenty of biomass in there and thats exactly what we want we want mats for the Biofuel Companies and we also need lots of flowers for the insects and thats exactly what we have here. An impressive sight an abundance of blossoms on a cultivated field. Its time for the harvest biologist carnelian martini and farmer klaus gaston i have come to see the results. Looking good that. Maybe. He wants to be compensated for the reduced yield but he also knows that these species rich fields offer an opportunity for farmers and they prove that agriculture and biodiversity can work hand in hand. Electricity from renewable sources has a weakness the Energy Supply can fluctuate sometimes Renewables Provide more electricity sometimes less to the grid. Excess power could be stored in the vehicles. Theyre not in use all of the telling. They rechargeable lithium ion batteries can store a lot of Energy Relative to their weight but extracting lithium comes with its own problems. This is how lithium is often found in nature as a mineral in hard rock generally in combination with other elements. Thats because a lithium atom has a loosely bound electron that it easily give south to form compounds in rock like this it is hard to extract. But in south america there are deposits where it is much more accessible more than half the worlds known reserves are there under the crust of this salt flat is a braai rich in lithium salts when the briny water is pumped up and left to evaporate the residue contains among other things lots of lithium. Various chemicals some of them toxic are used to separate out the lithium. Whats more as the brine is removed from the salt flats groundwater from the only way the extremely dry terrain takes its place to get enough lithium for the battery of just one midsized car 12000 liters of water are needed if they extract such vast amounts of water so quickly and we know thats a lot of water then in the next 5 or 6 years this area will turn into a real desert it wont just destroy farming and livestock breeding it will make human life here impossible. A high price to pay for electro mobility. Extracted now undergoes further processing its the most important part of a Rechargeable Battery the battery cells are mainly produced in asia about 6 kilograms of lithium are needed for a midsize electric car. And this is how the lithium performs on the road. In the battery it provides power by letting its electron migrate from the antidote to the cathode. And back again during recharging. At some point the lithium is you. And the battery becomes too weak to run a car. But it 80 percent capacity a lithium battery can still store electricity from Renewable Energy and to be ready to use when the sun isnt shining and there is no wind. But every Rechargeable Battery down i eventually and its put to rest. Not quite the batteries can be recycled but a lot of energy and chemicals are needed to revive them. Right now its hardly worth the trouble since the price of new lithium from south america is so low. Is in huge demand for batteries. In 2019 more than 3000000000 smartphones with. Cell phones with an Internet Connection great for accessing info from all over the globe. And they can be a big help to people in remote areas for example a vegetable in rural. Things have turned gloomy in recent days from into more. He lives in a village in South Central bangladesh. Division. Hes a tenant farmer and has been doing well the soil is fertile and describes have been abundant. Hes one of 80000 tenant farmers in the district who grow mainly rice and vegetables. But a new problem is just cropped up. As plants have been hit by a disease he cant identify. Fix and there. Is a head to get this plant has dried up in with. Them what they want 1st the tops of a stalks right and then lower down as well. Weve never seen a disease like this before. The plants and i within a week but at that time that next up with that he got me and some we could be facing huge losses. Other farmers in his village own their own land and are more prosperous. Zakia ho sign is one of them he went to school when he was young and he has a smart phone. Meant to most tells him about his problem farmers here have heard that they can get advice from experts via a smartphone app. Or sort of the. Suck your host sign takes a photo of the diseased plant writes a brief account of the problem and posts them to full sholay and based Online Service offering free advice to farmers its run by a c. I. Agribusinesses a unit of the conglomerate a. C. I. So they said it best that we used to go to the local Government Agriculture Department or other people who could help when we have problems now if you have a smartphone you can find Many Solutions via an app. For sholay is based in the capital dhaka. He thought our alina processes queries received from farmers across the country shes already received about 100 queries today she communicates with the farmers but the information she provides comes from experts sunbeam raman runs the Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing unit of a. C. I. The Technology Enables farmers to monitor the health of their crops and to protect them by analyzing and predicting threats for surely doesnt just respond to specific queries but also makes a lot of General Information available on that sap. Didnt want something meant to buy every 12 days we analyze the backscatter values we get from the sentinel one satellite for crop growth and feed the data into our map used to be there it wont look good on the day before using pest and Disease Control methods we try to figure out what kinds of diseases might affect crops within the next 48 hours. And in which particular stage of growth and put all this information in our app information. System. For sholay is an intelligent Decision Support system. A. C. I. Has invested a lot in its development. Farmers dont pay for the service but at the same time the Company Using sales of its Agricultural Products soar. It has recruited staff to go out into the fields and teach farmers about the app. Local government officials are. Also involved they appreciate how this software can enhance communication among farmers experts and the authorities. Is hoping to get a reply to his query later the same day so that he can start to tackle the disease killing his plans for him and many farmers like him the new Digital Technology could mean the difference between ruined and a brighter future. In the future Digital Technologies are expected to. Hit by wind power. But critics say. The swiss invented. This is a conventional wind turbine and this could be the wind turbine of tomorrow the 3 rotor blades rotate around a vertical axis so far no ones managed to produce electricity with a 100 meter high vertical axis wind turbine but inventor Patrick Christer believes he and his team have made a breakthrough if to spend more than 6 years working on the project as a personal hobby after another 6 years collaborating with scientists he managed to produce a prototype. Im excited weve been working on this for a while its a major component and now well see it for the 1st time when it comes out of the mold. And this is the moment of truth in the hangar near 0. The part measuring 27 meters in length and weighing 2 tons is the 1st section of a rotor blade for a test in the field made of fiberglass and resin it was bonded and pressed into a gigantic mold. And its coming along. So cool. His vertical axis wind turbine has a certification a 105. 00 metre tall tower is already standing waiting for it in western germany the turbine will be mounted on top for the inventor to demonstrate its advantages especially for the environment just because the back of its compatible with wildlife in the air bats will fly around it and birds can recognise it so there arent any bird strikes if theres one very important feature is that its much quieter than conventional Wind Turbines. Even at close range you dont hear anything its like a tower the turn slowly and it can be used in many different places where conventional Wind Turbines cant be. Back in 2011 at dubin door of the airport near zurich after the special trial on the runway patrick plaister could no longer keep his vertical wind turbine a secret. A 2nd test in 2012 in the swiss town of cooler was sobering the turbine with 12 blades that tracked the wind didnt produce enough power like many before him face to face failure especially after a storm knocked the turbine off kilter. Just 10 days after it was installed was a huge shock. It was weird to be woken up on a saturday morning by their release of the. 8 years and many lab tests later Patrick Feaster and his team were able to solve the problem of the rotor blades. Today the blades still adjust to the wind but theyre powered by 3 motors its the heart of the invention. Of the motor ensures that the position of the rotor blade is always optimized so that the stream of air on the blade doesnt break down and the blades pull the entire road or even in the same direction. Because that way they turn very slowly and quietly which allows us to enlarge the system. Picture wants to get his prototype on the market he has projects in the planning phase in asia and the us and a lot depends on their success theres already 18000000 euros worth of Venture Capital invested in this design. Bad mix of all thumb if you dont take risks you wont reap the rewards for my entire life i wanted to be a pioneer if my parents always said i should do something high and hearings were i always search for things that no one had done before. And that forces when you really do experience tilting at windmills 1st hand sometimes you dont feel like going through with it but moments like this make up for everything. Theres no turning back now for Patrick Easter his 1st vertical axis wind power system is now complete and about to go into operation. And thats all from tomorrow today for this week. Theyll be most times from us next hour and until then stay healthy and stake here yes. This is some notes. Story a stubborn rice farmer from thailand. His problem. Is clear no chemicals. And his plan was. The students arent. Going to stand a chance. 15 im teetotal. We know this is a scary time for the coronavirus is changing the world changing. So please take care of yourself keep your distance wash your hands if you can date and how we did you deal with you for here for we are working tirelessly to keep you informed on all of our platforms were all in this together and together were making great. Still you say goodbye. Stay safe stay safe please stay safe. And mentioned homey pushed. Us right now from the uk right now Climate Change in a Different Office or. Vicious much less away from just one week. How much worse can really get. We still have time to work im going. To access. The subscribe and morning news like this. People looking for coverage. There are many answers. There are many. There are many. Make up your mind to. Play. Play. Play. Play. Play. Play. And this is a news live from berlin a stark warning from the german chancellor. Please wherever possible stay in your place of residence. People and