The Green Energy Revolution – A Race against Time

Innovations from Ilmenau to California. The first part of the documentary deals with the question of whether we will be able to provide enough green energy for the entire world. The film travels to the places that could become the Saudi Arabia of renewables in the future, such as gigantic offshore wind farms in the North Sea or state-of-the-art solar fields in Spain, which together could one day supply all of Europe with electricity. However, to ensure that the world's rising energy demand can be met not only sustainably but also affordably, researchers at the Ilmenau University of Technology in Thuringia are working with a team from the California Institute of Technology on high-tech materials that will make renewable energies more efficient and cheaper than their fossil fuel predecessors.

Don't wait, just do it The second part asks what has to happen in order to realise what is technically possible. For this purpose, the film visits two entirely different places in the USA and Bavaria that have two things in common: They have both converted their energy supply completely to renewables and both have more money in their coffers today as a result than before. With these examples, the two-part film not only gives a global overview of the solutions that already exist for a worldwide energy transition, but also of the challenges that still need to be mastered - not only in the laboratories and in the power plants, but also among the doers and decision-makers who have to drive the change forward today.