The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | 83 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK without age restriction |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl-A. Fechner |
| script | Carl-A. Fechner |
| production |
Carl-A. Fechner fechnerMEDIA |
| music | Natalia Dittrich |
| camera | Sorin Dragoi |
| cut | Mona Bräuer |
| occupation | |
| |
The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy is a German documentary from 2010 by Carl-A. Fechner and has the topic of switching to renewable energies . The film title alludes to the continuation of the technical revolutions of the past: After the agricultural revolution , the industrial revolution and the digital revolution, the fourth revolution is the energy transition .
In four years of work, the film was shot in ten countries around the world. Concepts for the most varied of countries and areas of life are proposed on the basis of projects. The film includes contributions by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and by the Right Livelihood Award winner Hermann Scheer, who died only a few months later in October 2010 .
content
The film takes you to different places around the world and shows how people are working for an energy transition.
Los Angeles is bursting with energy - from scarce fuels
The politician Hermann Scheer is out and about in Los Angeles . The film shows how energy-hungry today's societies are and that there is clear potential for improvement (for example in solar systems). He also points out the dependence on imports of fossil fuels . Scheer was President of Eurosolar , co-founder of the International Renewable Energy Organization (IRENA) , member of the World Future Council and received numerous awards.
In a lecture at the University of California , Scheer explains that there are over 40 countries in the world that spend more on importing oil than they earn from all of their exports. The average per capita income in the third world countries is only around 2 to 8 percent of the income in the industrialized nations, but they would have to buy oil at the same price as the rich nations. One could not solve the problems of the Third World without including a sustainable and independent energy supply.
OPEC connection: an oil expert advises governments
The chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol keeps saying that an energy turnaround would not be possible in the foreseeable future. Since the energy demand will increase significantly in the future, technologies such as coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants will continue to be needed . His agency designs energy scenarios with which they advise the governments of their 28 member states, but also governments of other countries around the world. Birol predicts that global energy needs will increase by 45% by 2030, with around 80% of energy coming from fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Birol worked as an oil and energy consultant for OPEC for 6 years before joining the IEA in 1995. Birol explains: "Most of what I know about energy I owe to my work in OPEC."
Fatih Birol recommends the use of nuclear power to reduce CO 2 emissions. The prices are reasonable and the uranium required is available all over the world. “France gets 80 percent of its energy from nuclear power. Nuclear waste was never a problem. "
Hermann Scheer points to the exhaustion of conventional resources, the damage to health caused by today's energy system and the dangers of nuclear energy: radioactive waste, accident hazards, nuclear terror. "These risks are by no means irrelevant just because there is the CO 2 climate problem."
It should be noted that OPEC members made around $ 1,000 billion in 2008 from the sale of oil.
Energy autonomy on the Danish peninsula
As a counter-concept, Preben Maegaard shows how a peninsula with 50,000 inhabitants in the north-west of Denmark is fully supplied with renewable energies. In addition to an energy mix that uses different sources, the energy can also be stored. The initiative goes back to the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy .
Maegaard addresses the resistance and emphasizes that it is less about technology and more about political and organizational resistance to change. The energy supply, which was previously based on centralized solutions with large power plants, must be converted into solutions that are regionally based in order to achieve energy autonomy. He contradicts the prejudice that the energy transition would primarily mean doing without.
"The wind turbine - or we": Parents threatened their visionary son
Matthias Willenbacher had visions early on: Against the advice of his parents, he invested in his own wind power plant - today his company juwi from Wörrstadt in Germany operates countless profitable wind farms and also built the largest solar power plant in the world to date, the Waldpolenz solar park nearby from Leipzig with an output of 40,000 kilowatts. Now he has built an office building that claims to be the most energy-efficient office building in the world. The construction corresponds to the passive house standard. Due to drastic savings in running energy costs (the total costs for electricity and heat are only 2 euros / m² per year), the investment in the new office building will pay for itself in 5–7 years.
Saving energy in the Passive House Pfungstadt
In Pfungstadt , an old building from the 1950s is being converted into a passive house. In addition to the energetic renovation , an energy concept is also being worked out, which is based on the use of various energy sources, such as photovoltaics and a combined heat and power plant with combined heat and power . This means that energy consumption can be reduced by 80%.
Light for Mali or: The end of childbirth using a flashlight
Ibrahim Togola studied in Saint Petersburg and his professor there recommended him to Preben Maegaard as a trainee in Denmark . At Maegaard he learned everything about renewable energies for 10 months. Today he carries the ideas of the Nordic Folke Center to his African homeland.
In the whole of Africa over 60% of the people have no access to electricity, in Mali it is almost 80%. Togola and the men from his Mali Folke Center are installing solar modules - for example on the roof of a maternity ward in Zambala. The midwife is visibly happy about the electric light. So far, only a flashlight clamped between shoulder and ear was used at night.
Decentralized and democratic: the energy of the oil fruit Jatropha
Ibrahim Togola is setting up autonomous energy systems in the villages of Mali . The oil crop Jatropha , previously used either for personal consumption or for export, is now processed in a cooperative of 300 small farmers. The fruits are pressed, the oil drives three generators and supplies 400 families with electricity. At the same time, there is economic dynamism: people can work at night with electricity and light.
Spain - energy supply with sun and molten salt
The 200 hectare Andasol solar thermal power plant in La Calahorra shows that solar power could also take over a significant share of the energy supply in mega-cities like Los Angeles . With an output of 50 megawatts, it can produce 180 gigawatt hours of electricity per year and thus supply 45,000 families or 100,000 individuals with electricity from renewable energies. The energy obtained is not only fed directly to the turbine to generate electricity, but also partially stored for the night. Liquid salt storage systems are used for this. Preben Maegaard muses that such a power plant in connection with small solar systems and wind turbines would be perfect for many large cities in the desert.
See also: DESERTEC
Energy transition by 2050 - with solar technology from China
Zhengrong Shi believes that the next industrial revolution will be the energy revolution. The managing director of the Chinese company Suntech Power is convinced that solar power will be cheaper than conventionally produced power in three to five years. His company is the world market leader. "I think the next industrial revolution is the energy revolution," he says. "If China wants to continue to grow strongly, it has to deal with the environment."
In a speech at Tongji University in Shanghai , Hermann Scheer explains that he considers China's complete conversion to renewable energies both possible and affordable. With renewable energies there are no fuel costs and consequential environmental damage is minimized, so that only the technology costs remain, which in turn can be significantly reduced by increasing production and technological improvements. Zengrong Shi believes the switch to 100% renewable energy is possible by 2040 or 2050.
In Paris, however, Fatih Birol recommends using coal in a more environmentally friendly way and storing the resulting CO 2 in underground storage facilities ( CO 2 capture and storage ).
Hermann Scheer considers this recommendation to be a powder keg and put forward: “All of this is only done for one reason - so that you can continue to use the conventional energy supply for a few more decades. Mainly no renewable energies, because they provoke the structural change in the energy industry. ”He points out that 40 percent of energy consumption could be saved through environmentally friendly building, living and renovation. “This will revolutionize the entire energy supply. Because if today's energy industry loses 40 percent of its sales, it has no chance of surviving. "
It is pointed out that the operation of a coal-fired power plant with carbon dioxide storage would lead to additional costs of 150 million euros per year.
"Poor is those who cannot use their creative energy"
In Dhaka , the capital of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus developed the concept of microcredits for the rural poor. Behind this is his philosophy that everyone can make something of himself if he only has the opportunity: “For me, poor is only someone who cannot use his creative energy.” He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his success .
Yunus' Grameen-Bank has been running a subsidiary for renewable energies since 1996 : Grameen Shakti installs 8,000 solar modules on the roofs in Bangladesh every month. Customers and technicians are mostly women. “We specifically address women because their kingdom is the house, and the solar system is at home,” says Dipal Barua from Grameen Shakti. In the villages there are training projects for school children, customers and technicians. Women solder solar charge controllers and ballasts together. “Anyone can understand the technology and also repair it.” The women earn 100 dollars a month and don't have to move to the cities to work. Everyone can participate in economic success - with the help of renewable energies.
"Dream Cemetery" on the hills of California
An obsolete wind farm has come to a standstill in California. It dates from the time of the oil crisis in the 1970s. When oil became a little cheaper again, under Ronald Reagan , fossil fuels were used again. Hermann Scheer calls the plant a cemetery of dreams at the time : "The dawn of the solar age was abruptly interrupted by a coordinated machi-nism by American energy companies with their political accomplices." If the wind turbines were replaced by modern systems, five nuclear power plants could be switched off, says Scheer.
New concepts for the automotive industry: from electric cars to "electric planes"
The Californian entrepreneur Elon Musk makes sleek sports cars - and all vehicles have an electric drive. The electricity for this comes from renewable energies. Next, Musk wants to build the vehicles in larger series for the mass market. He already has an idea for an electric airplane that no longer needs to run on kerosene. With a different design, Musk believes, an electric airplane could fly 4,000 miles non-stop. His team is working on the development.
In Norway's capital Oslo , Jan-Olaf Willums is already involved in series production of the Think City electric vehicle . The entrepreneur expects flexible solutions for the future: More people will use both cars and public transport . Also, the car sharing is on the rise. His electric cars could already determine when they should be charged, and they would also like to work with the electricity company so that charging takes place when there is little demand for electricity (for example at night) or when the wind is blowing strongly and it is on There is an oversupply of electricity from wind energy. In addition, electricity will be distributed more flexibly, depending on where it is currently being asked for: “If you suddenly need a little more electricity because everyone is cooking, we can borrow electricity for half an hour from 1,000 or 5,000 cars then send it back. "
It should be noted that the oil industry sells more than two trillion liters of fuel annually for transportation and traffic, which is a quarter of the world's energy consumption.
Charge batteries at the pump
Maria Skyllas-Kazacos , is Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Australia and researches new storage technologies for electricity. In order to store excess energy - for times when there is not enough wind or sun - it would be best to store it in electro-chemical batteries, as 80% of the energy could be reused. She developed the electro-chemical vanadium redox flow battery.
The redox flow battery is the only type of battery that can be charged with electricity or (without a long charging process) immediately with a liquid. For example, you could charge a discharged battery at a filling station by refilling it with the liquid - just like filling up with petrol today.
The easiest way to reduce CO 2 : Stop the deforestation of the rainforest
Environmental activist Bianca Jagger climbs onto a viewing platform on a huge tree in the Brazilian Amazon and looks out over the lush green rainforest. The winner of the alternative Nobel Prize is committed to ensuring that deforestation is at least slowed.
Jagger's companion from the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation ( Fundação Amazonas Sustentável ) explains that 80 percent of global CO 2 emissions result from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, the next thing is deforestation , with 18 percent of the CO 2 share of the rainforest. Therefore, both the consumption of fossil fuels must be reduced and the deforestation of the rainforest stopped. If there is also extensive reforestation, CO 2 can be bound in the ecosystem - a simple and cheap way of protecting the climate. Governments and people have to be won over to protect the rainforest, says Jagger. In the village of Juma, for example, the farmers receive $ 25 forest money a month to compensate for the fact that they no longer fell or burn trees.
Accompanying event campaigns and financing
The film wants to be more than a simple hit movie: More than a hundred campaign alliances and event partners are formed around the film . They bring the film to their locations and organize many of their own accompanying activities, campaigns and events. It is used as a "tool" to spread the message through media activism that a decentralized full supply with the help of renewable energies is not only possible, but also better for society than the nuclear-fossil energy supply.
Many small companies, associations, clubs, independent organizations and countless private individuals made the filming possible with many small sums ( crowdfunding ) with over one million euros. For example, the supporters could buy film components and were named in the credits or received DVDs of the film. Nevertheless, Fechner emphasizes: "Any influence on the content of the film on the part of the financiers was contractually excluded in advance."
The Swiss sustainability initiative “Films for the Earth” distributed 3500 DVDs of the film free of charge by mid-2011, but these should not be kept but rather passed on from friend to friend.
publication
- Cinema : The cinema release in Germany was on March 18, 2010. In the USA, the film was shown on March 6, 2011 as part of the San Francisco Green Film Festival .
- DVD : The film was released on DVD on December 9, 2010. In addition to the German version (in which foreign-language sections are provided with a German voice-over ), the DVD also contains a version with the original languages and German subtitles.
- TV : It was first broadcast on television on May 3, 2011 on ARTE as part of the themed evening "Free Energy for All!"
- Internet : The film has since been released under the CC-BY-NC-ND license and can be downloaded for a freely definable price.
Reviews
Even before the film started, the film received positive reviews in many media.
"The Positive Answer to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth "
"Plea for the energy transition
It is not about falling into lethargy, but about acting"
“ The energy transition has never looked so good.
What makes 'The 4th Revolution'… unique: It is the first film that actually has a positive answer to the threat of climate change.”
"Visionary documentary that shows ways out of the energy crisis"
“ A cinema film wants to change the world
'The fourth revolution - EnergyAutonomy' is a spectacular cinema and a meaningful message at the same time. The film wants nothing less than to prove that the global energy turnaround is possible - if only people want it. ”
“ Breathtaking images and great emotions - only cinema can convey that. Four years after Al Gore's big screen hit about the impending climate catastrophe, a German film is now set to show the way out. ”
“ A near future without energy worries, without dependence on large energy companies: 'The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy' is more than just a film Filmmaker Carl-A. Fechner in the cinemas. "
“Light for Africa, solar technicians in Bangladesh, wind turbines in California! The documentary 'The 4th Revolution' shows that the radical upheaval of the energy market is possible against all statements made by the power plant lobby. Is the next social revolution imminent? "
“ It's not too expensive, not unrealistic, and look, it's already a reality.
“Ecological awareness has been a fundamental characteristic of the western world not only since Kyoto, it is difficult to deny. A documentary entitled "The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy" wants to show that this is far from giving up lip service, but at the same time it gives hope. ""
“The 4th Revolution - a movie that changes the world a bit. Breathtaking images and great emotions - only cinema can convey that. Four years after Al Gore's big screen hit about the impending climate catastrophe, a German movie is now set to show the way out. "
“ Lots of stones for a new energy mosaic
The film conveys a vision: a world whose energy supply is fed 100 percent from renewable sources - not produced by a few corporations, but by many small plants. The work of Carl-A. Fechner shows many exemplary projects. "
“ A pleasant truth,
only heating and driving with sun, wind or biogas? And that worldwide within 30 years? A beautiful dream or a realistic perspective? The makers of this committed documentary think the switch is possible. In the tradition of An Inconvenient Truth and as committed as Plastic Planet, director Carl-A. Fechner does more than just educate. He wants to encourage action. "
" Around the world in 80 theses
Now Hermann Scheer is anything but a complete idiot, on the contrary: Even if you really don't have to put a halo on him, [...] he says a lot of clever things, and above all he says them mostly in German - something you learn to appreciate in a film where you spend half the time reading with subtitles. [...] This is a broadcast-conscious advertising film for renewable energies and related technology. Simple in design, it draws attention to important topics and questions, but without always providing the answers. [...] After all, it is also about information to a limited extent. Above all, this suffers from the fact that possible objections are not seriously discussed, and one therefore has to rely on the fact that the film provides fair and balanced information. True enough: who demands fairness from a commercial? Or just information. "
"Director Carl-A. Fechner's 'The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy' is an ambitious plea for alternative energies. On the basis of intensive research, Fechner not only presents ways and means of how the world can be preserved in the long term, he also feels the energy lobby on the tooth.
[...] an informative, ambitious document that enlightens, warns, surprises, arouses curiosity and, last but not least, encourages electricity consumers to think about alternatives. "
Awards
- The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the film the title “particularly valuable”.
- Awarded “Golden Filmspule” 2011 for Carl-A. Fechner
- Nomination for the German Sustainability Award 2010 for fechnerMEDIA
- Nomination for the German Camera Prize 2010 in the documentary / documentary category for Sorin Dragoi
literature
- Hermann Scheer: Energy autonomy. A new policy for renewable energy. Kunstmann, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-88897-390-2
Web links
- The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy at filmportal.de
- Short review in the environmental magazine EnSaver
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Project homepage with community and tips on how to implement ideas on site
- Event card with event partners and promotions
- Official page for the film
- Theme evening at ARTE in early May 2011
Individual evidence
- ↑ The music is by the Russian film composer Natalia Dittrich, recorded by the Stuttgart film orchestra , the American band TV on the Radio and the young Cologne band Bukahara Trio .
- ↑ Homepage of the Nordic Folkecenter ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. /
- ↑ Homepage of the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation /
- ↑ Become an event partner now! , Actions ; EnergyAutonomy.org
- ↑ a b "4. Revolution - Energy Autonomy “ , Tausend.de in March 2010
- ↑ Poverty is always energy poverty : The documentary film "The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy" outlines an energy policy vision - Carl-A. Fechner in conversation in the radio section: Topic in Deutschlandradio Kultur on March 17, 2010
- ↑ a b Documentary The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy. Zitty , archived from the original on May 23, 2010 ; accessed on March 4, 2014 . , Excerpt (PDF; 469 kB), zitty in March 2010
- ↑ a b The energy transition has never looked so good , SPON from March 19, 2010
- ↑ Video ZDF.umwelt - cinema release: The 4th Revolution in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on January 26, 2014. (offline), The documentation uses examples to show how the complete switch to renewable energies can be achieved today. At the cinema release on March 18, 2010, ZDF.umwelt will speak to the director Carl.-A. Fechner. Event partners from Freiburg will also be presented.
- ↑ Topic: Free energy for everyone! (No longer available online.) Arte.tv , archived from the original on February 2, 2014 ; accessed on March 4, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ THE 4TH REVOLUTION - now free on the Internet. fechnerMEDIA: blog, April 29, 2013, archived from the original on June 10, 2014 ; accessed on March 26, 2016 .
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↑ The Stuttgarter Zeitung reports on the preliminary premiere. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on March 4, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) in Schorndorf on March 14th (published on March 16, 2010) :
[…] He likes the film that it presents the solution in a positive way, says the sponsor of the alternative Nobel Prize. That distinguishes the film from Al Gore's Oscar-winning film "An Inconvenient Truth". It is not about falling into lethargy, but about acting, said Scheer. The film encourages people to shape change. - ^ THE 4TH REVOLUTION - ENERGY AUTONOMY , Cinema.de from March 2010
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↑ A movie wants to change the world: The 4th Revolution in the Green , SWR TV on January 26, 2010; Video contribution
Page no longer available , search in web archives: Filmmaker from Immendingen Carl-A. Fechner , state show from March 15, 2010 - ↑ Review: The 4th Revolution! ( Memento from May 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), ttt - titel, thesen, temperamente ( ARD / BR ) on March 7, 2010; Video ( Memento from January 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) ( YouTube )
- ↑ Breathtaking: The 4th Revolution ... Energy Autonomy, a movie will change the world (PDF; 180 kB), Hello Franconia on March 1st, 2010
- ↑ Many stones for a new energy mosaic , Heilbronn Voice on March 2, 2010
- ^ A gratifying truth , kino-zeit.de on February 20, 2010
- ^ The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy , Telepolis
- ^ The 4th Revolution - Energy Autonomy. In: KinoKino. BR-online , March 17, 2010, archived from the original on April 29, 2010 ; accessed on March 4, 2014 .
