Backlight: Beyond The Green Horizon

What will the future sustainable world look like? More...

Documentary - Environment & sustainability

44'

What will the future sustainable world look like? That is the big question, now that the global transition towards sustainable energy is gaining momentum. For the growth of sustainable energy involves a lot more changes than just the colour of the power supplied to our homes. How will we build, how will our mobility be impacted, and will energy, one day, be free?

Just like the Internet turned out to have an unforeseen influence on all kinds of industries, from music to taxi businesses, the transition towards sustainable energy will also rise beyond the energy sector. And with a much wider impact than is now assumed. But we know surprisingly little about what that world will look like, and how the people in it will live, work and move around.

Expectations are that, by the 2050s, two thirds of the electricity generated globally will be sustainable. The Netherlands is ambitious too. But what kind of world are we heading for, really, with all these sustainable measures? In partial areas, the future is clear: a massive stop to the use of gas, lots of windmills and solar panels, and perhaps a self-driving car outside. But, for now, there is no wider vision of what the sustainable new world will look like.

What will the world be like once energy has become practically free? What will the impact of the transition towards sustainable energy be on the balance of power in the world? A journey along places where the sustainable future is already (nearly) visible. In China, for example, old collapsed coal mines are given a new destination as solar parks. In Denmark, the power plants of the future also serve as skiing slopes. And in Malmö, Sweden, new leases are signed with green fingers.

Documentary
Martijn Kieft
2018
VPRO
44'
VPRO
 

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