Beginning to understand less is more when it comes to fossil fuels but is the World Economy ready for the dramatic change that is underway well find out in this edition of made farewell fossil fuels when you consider germanys biggest Infrastructure Project at the moment is a gas pipeline youd be justified in thinking not much has changed in terms of Energy Politics not spring to transports natural gas from russia directly to germany via the baltic sea all green policies notwithstanding germany is still dependent on fossil fuels. Which include me on the northern german coast this is where the norths train to pipeline reaches western europe after passing 1200 kilometers through the baltic sea. The north stream project bypasses the previous transport route through ukraine. Gas market analyst heiko norman says that was clearly the aim of nordstroms main shareholder russian state owned. It was or. Not since the russian side claims that neither north stream to nor north stream one were built to bypass ukraine. But in my view the russians difficulties with transporting gas by ukraine were clearly the triggering factor to build nord stream one north stream to. Its because of a long history of disputes since the end of the soviet union. In one. Once its reached mean the natural gas from north stream to will be distributed to the Czech Republic and austria via the new Oil Pipeline Construction on the 580 kilometer long gas line is due to be finished in the coming weeks further east in the polish capital warsaw the north stream to pipeline is not welcome all the Political Parties here oppose getting more gas from russia poland is terminating its existing gas supply contract with gazprom when it expires in 2022 saying russia uses gas as a means of applying political pressure we paid a price that was almost 40400 dollars 10000 cubic meter at the same time 260. 23280 and. Of course because of our strongly pro western. Policy. Meanwhile pipe playing vessels are continuing work on north stream to just a few kilometers off the german coast its not only poland that opposes this work the United States would also like to stop the project and is planning sanctions against the operators of the ships. Theres also opposition from the Baltic States lithuania is keen to get away from russian gas and has sought other suppliers here in the port city of clyde paida liquid natural gas from qatar is being unloaded independence from russia appears to be the Key Driving Force behind all these moves back in poland gas market analysts design and novak is keeping an eye on developments she says the north stream pipeline built by Russias Gazprom is driving a wedge between European Union countries. Is the most important market player. This means that if we increase. Amounts of gas that are reaching the market. It is translated into strength of this dominance on the European Market so current is not only thinking about on its own interests but also interest of other countries another aspect of the pipeline project is the issue of Climate Change burning natural gas as fuel is bad for the environment and could cease to be an option if Greenhouse Gas emissions are to be reduced. Inside is in the sector i thinking ahead there looking to break down the natural gas to produce Climate Friendly hydrogen. If i want to use natural gas long term i can break down the gas to get hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide in fact the russians are working on a method that yields solid carbon so they dont have the problem of sequestering the Carbon Dioxide. This is a possibility for supplying large volumes of liquid Energy Carriers or gaseous Energy Carriers. If that works then in the long term Climate Friendly hydrogen could flow through the north stream to pipeline from russia instead of natural gas. But even though that could make the project more Climate Friendly the political squabbles look set to continue. Of a situation in germany and century europe but what about the Bigger Picture is the World Economy ready for the big change a hit one Economist Says no Jeremy Rifkin predicts the collapse will be brutal and that it will come sooner than we expect he says it will happen i mean 9 years from now 20 years ago rifkin correctly predicted the digital revolution that we are now experiencing so id say hes a man was listening to our correspondent did just that when he sat down with risk in may of washington. Most of the cars on the streets run on gasoline and it doesnt matter where you look our Society Depends on fossil energy the question is for how much longer is this sustainable now this book here suggests an answer Jeremy Rifkin the author of the Green New Deal says the fossil fuel civilisation will collapse by 2028. Im meeting mr rifkin here in bethesda near washington hes an economist futurist and advisor to the European Union and the German Government hes made a bold prediction the threat of our extinction will move us to a 0 emissions economy Jeremy Rifkin in your book the Green New Deal you argue that our civilization which is based on fossil energy will collapse as soon as in 2028 now for 200 years fossil energy has been the most important source of energy can you believe thats hard to understand for a lot of people including for the economy which is depending on oil i think what people dont understand is the entire civilization is made out of fossil fuels are fertilizers and pesticides are Construction Materials are synthetic fiber are packaging. Food additives and preservatives are Power Transport are eat are like everything so whats happened now ever is that we are now in a pivotal turning point for this fossil fuel based industrial civilization. We have now spewed so much Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere to maintain this Industrial Way of life that we are now finding ourselves in real time Climate Change frigid winter of 70 below 0 and blockbuster winter snows massive flooding across our land masses in the Spring Summer droughts and wildfires on every continent hurricanes and typhoons across the entire autumn every year around the world our scientists are now telling us we are in the 6th extinction of life on earth so you are essentially describing a situation where the change will come from the economy rather than from politics is that right and which role will the markets play this year the level lies cost of solar and wind has just plunged below natural gas and way below nuclear and coal so whats happened is were seeing trillions of dollars of fossil fuel assets all the pipelines that will never be used all of the exploration rights that have been paid for by the old industry which will never amortize out all of the fossil fuels in the ground which we never taken up because theyre more expensive so what were seeing here is a massive collapse of the fossil fuel civilization because the market is speaking. Of that is capital is flowing out of fossil Energy Companies and into renewables. Rifkin says large u. S. Bond funds are leading the way. How do you imagine the future of the year 2028 without fossil energy with you look at the United States and canada they are going to be in big trouble the number one producer of fossil fuels the u. S. The number 4 canada theyre going to be in big trouble but any country that has a majority of their energy wed reliant on fossil fuels in trouble the big Oil Producing countries in the middle East North Africa and other places where they totally depended and where they have very poor prop populations and when they have a thought. Governments and failed states are going to be trouble they had plenty of we have a study in the World Bank Book the world bank. Got to make the transition talk the talk they didnt walk the walk. Very quickly if parts of europe. And parts of china. And california and their place in the u. S. And everyone can do this but it has to be tomorrow morning we need a new deal in every community and we need to quickly. Oh predictions aside the world still runs largely on oil at the moment as a major impact on all aspects of the Global Economy price of crude determines inflation and other key indicators in economies both rich and poor we burned 90 percent of all the rest is used for the production of plastics and Chemicals Oil is everywhere. Blessing or curse. Its greasy poisonous and it stinks crude oil is actually made of algae and small organisms that have been decaying on the sea floor for millions of years. And thats exactly why its so valuable this black gold is packed full of energy an excellent fuel source rushing through the economy like. Its been used for thousands of years to see the wooden boats mama fired the dead and shoot down enemies with fiery arrows. But it was the popularity of the oil lamp that sparked the 1st real boom oil well drilled by edwin drake in pennsylvania 859 became world famous it was the 1st productive oil well. John d. Rockefeller became an oil trader and 65. He founded the Company Standard oil which made him the worlds richest man his goal was to have an oil monopoly. The mass production of cars eventually make crude oil the most important raw material in the world the driving force behind the economy or oil meant prosperity but it also triggered many crises and wars. Todays Biggest Oil Producer is the us followed by saudi arabia and russia. But this black gold destroys the Environment Oil spills and drilling accidents pollute the seas and the land suffocates under mounds of Plastic Waste made from us as the search for alternatives becomes increasingly desperate the production of oil still continues to rise in 2018 more crude was produced than ever before nearly 95000000 barrels every day. Reserves are finite though as is the power of the Oil Companies and the countries that rely on oil exports. The opec cartel meetings might soon become a purely social gathering. Lets. Take a quick look around you no matter where you are that there is definitely one thing in your immediate vicinity that you can reach with your hand or thats made of plastic thats really no escaping it its like were hooked on the stuff that by her own relationship with plastic my colleagues. Looked into possible alternatives. What you. Saw it and shower gel having common. They all contain plastic made out of plastic is everywhere. Everywhere. From the mattress i sleep on the phone i grab when i 1st wake up the clothes i wear and the insulation that keeps me nice and warm. Even things that seem like viable alternatives to plastic and not so much. Paper plates often coated with plastic to make them water resistant cans many of them contain this pheno a controversial synthetic chemicals and one of the most common items of litter on us these filters contain plastic. But why all of this plastic we used to be fine without it just a few decades ago our addiction is a recent one the Plastic Industry has skyrocketed in the past decade and because its cheap convenient durable and liked. I really like plastic but its not a life as we know it possible and it doesnt make economic sense. Like Plastic Companies keep saying disposable Plastic Packaging keeps products fresh longer and has made products lighter loss and cheaper to transport. Volume wise todays cars are half plastic and making them more fuel efficient the building industry alone uses 16 percent of the worlds plastic because its cheap and durable. But all of the characteristics that make plastics so convenient also make it so detrimental to the environment with catastrophic consequences. Scientists found that of all the plastic produced just 9 percent has been recycled 12 percent has been incinerated and 79 percent is sitting in a landfill or the environment and will take centuries to disintegrate. Weve all gotten so used to the convenience of plastic and its just everywhere that its really hard to force us and companies to just switch back more tentative doings you can make your dental care plastic free with fancy toothpaste tablets for example but you cant replace all plastics with alternatives yet there have been efforts to cut our addiction like the use ban on several single use plastic items can to take effect by 2021 but that just targets a small part of the problem in the short term plastics are the easiest solution for companies and for consumers like me if we dont have any large scale bans or we find viable alternatives the fact that we will being addicted to it because sadly what this does make them but like all other indications in the long term to get into this story whats really. And here are a few fun facts about oil as i said before 90 percent of it weve been in power stations to fuel our cars and planes to heat our homes only 7 percent of our all goes to the Chemical Industry but 90 percent of that provides nearly all the basic components the chemicals Industry Needs to produce pills plastics or paints socalled Petro Chemicals industry is hugely dependent on oil but Many Companies are seeing the writing on the wall and they using science to find solutions. Almost nothing works these days without chemicals and countless substances are attained through chemical processes based on petroleum how could we ever do without it. Personally i believe that in the future we will inhabit a very different world and its the same for chemistry we will also have a very different world one in which even c o 2 maybe a valuable role material. Imagine yourself standing at your barbecue or your car with a leader of gasoline. You can use a drive 100 kilometers or light a really big far. Now imagine trying to capture that after its been turned into c o 2. And turning it back into a loser gasoline its a lot of work. Thats what we do here. The idea sounds simple instead of pumping Carbon Dioxide into the air we recycle the climate killer using it to make the same products that currently involved petroleum after all the most important ingredient of petroleum for the Chemical Industry is carbon its an idea that companies have been researching for some time but only now with the 1st pilot plants available in this bio reactor artificial photosynthesis is taking place using electric power bacteria converting c o 2 and water into chemicals these include butanol and hex and all the basic materials for paints cosmetics and fabric softener. Extracts Carbon Dioxide from the air and use it to generate plant material trees and other things we want to copy the best of what nature has made and thats what we do here except were not doing it with plants but with bacteria. But there is a catch with this technology it requires a lot of electricity. To make c o 2 recycling Carbon Neutral it has to use Renewable Energies in the future the bio reactors will be built next to large wind farms solar power plants the Carbon Dioxide can be filtered from the emissions coming from industrial plants and of course its also possible to take c o 2 directly from the air. Technically a lot is possible but its also important that the process results in products that customers want to buy the Chemical Company cholesterol has developed a flexible foam with components that are about 20 percent c o 2 based these can be processed into objects such as mattresses. We could change to using c o 2 as a raw material without further ado petroleum is currently the cheapest source and its also the most convenient way to get large amounts of carbon for the Chemical Industry but you could do it differently. Carbon dioxide could be used to make the same products that are currently made with petroleum including car paints or plastics only great at Cost Petroleum can be replaced 9 but the Chemical Industry needs a complete overhaul to get ready for the transition. Of the chemicals industry is at least one sector clearly aware change afoot governments are too although they are not all equally up to speed on making the change to Sustainable Energy but it is encouraging to know 12 countri