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    Tech Zero

    Tech Zero

    How will we get to net zero? Meet the entrepreneurs leading the charge into the new industrial revolution. Empires will crumble. Fortunes will be made.

    Hosted by

    Peter Ker

    Resources reporter

    Peter Ker

    Produced by

    Lap Phan

    Producer

    Lap Phan

    Listen now

    Latest Episode

    Sir Andrew Mackenzie: time to focus on the best few climate solutions

    The Shell chairman says the world’s carbon challenge is harder than he realised while running BHP, and it’s time for a global focus on a few winning solutions

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    The clean energy renaissance that’s backed by big oil

    The extraction of geothermal energy from the Earth’s core is enjoying a renaissance, and companies like BHP, Chevron and BP have put their money behind it.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    June

    Rio Tinto is putting its money where its mouth is on green iron.

    Rio Tinto to invest $215m in giant iron ore microwave

    Microwaves aren’t just for reheating food in the kitchen – they could help solve the carbon footprint problem of the iron ore industry.

    • Updated
    • Peter Ker

    May

    Why microwaves are the hottest new thing in industrial heat

    Microwave ovens are great at heating up last night’s leftovers, but can the technology offer a low-carbon source of industrial heat for big industries such as steel?

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    Blue-sky thinkers block the sun to fight climate change

    It might sound like science fiction, but a mix of scientists and venture capitalists are working on plans to block the sun to slow global warming.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    April

    Sequoia Lewien holds a mycorrhizal fungi extracted from soils in the east Otway region of Victoria.

    Why Mike Cannon-Brookes invested in this mushroom

    A tree-planting boom is required to get the world to net-zero, and the billionaire is betting mushrooms and fungi will be a crucial enabler

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
    Andrea Ceccolini.

    The incredible plan to refreeze the arctic

    A new start-up is fighting climate change by thickening ice in the Arctic.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
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    Tony Dragicevich, CEO of Capral Aluminium on Sydney’s outskirts in Huntingwood

    Green premiums are real, says aluminium boss

    Electric vehicle makers are refusing to pay a green premium for low-carbon nickel but Capral says customers are paying an extra 5 per cent for clean aluminium.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    Atlassian’s low-carbon skyscraper is ‘out of the ground’

    The work-from-home revolution has failed to kill the $1.5b Atlassian Central project near Sydney Central Station, with a key construction milestone now passed.

    • Updated
    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    March

    Why Formula 1’s fuel is going green

    Pat Symonds wrote the rules that will compel Formula 1 cars to run on carbon-neutral fuel from 2026. Big oil companies are now racing to find solutions.

    • Peter Ker

    December 2023

    Forrest family leads Rich List plunge on packaging disrupter

    Andrew and Nicola Forrest have led a star-studded fundraising for the start-up that hopes to replace polystyrene with a more sustainable insulation material.

    • Peter Ker

    November 2022

    Greg Metha used to work the spotlight for a rockband. Now his hydrogen project has him centre stage.

    This man is using ‘pixie dust’ to solve green hydrogen’s big problem

    Professor Greg Metha and Fortescue might have a solution to Saul Griffith’s fear that Australia will waste time, money and renewable power making green hydrogen.

    • Updated
    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    How we can keep burning (clean) coal for 100 years

    The man behind a low carbon gas-fired power station says he is certain it can be adapted to run on Australian coal and will mean coal can be burned for “hundreds of years”.

    • Updated
    • Peter Ker

    Why Queensland sugar cane can be the ‘Exxon of biofuels’

    The way it is farmed and processed could make it a more viable source of low-carbon aviation power than other crops such as corn.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    October 2022

    The Aussie tech leading the world on electric planes

    When the largest all-electric plane to fly took off in the US last month, an Australian-designed propulsion system was the wind beneath its wings.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
    Podcast episodes are out every Thursday. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

    Fixing craft beer’s dirty little secret

    Is the explosion of small breweries in Australia making climate change worse? John Seltin is one artisan trying to ensure his only CO2 emissions are the bubble in his drinks.

    The plan to fix craft brewing’s dirty little secret

    Jon Seltin reckons climate change is already changing the taste of beer, and amid a craft brewing boom he’s determined not to add to the problem.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
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    BHP and the shipping industry rediscover the power of wind

    Centuries after colonial powers sailed the seven seas on nothing but wind, big corporates like BHP are pushing a wind renaissance through the shipping industry.

    • Updated
    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
    SunDrive’s David Hu, left, and Vince Allen founded the start-up in a garage.

    Malcolm Turnbull joins Cannon-Brookes with stake in solar disrupter

    The former prime minister says SunDrive’s technological breakthrough in solar cell manufacturing could be a “game changer”.

    • Peter Ker
    Professor Deanna D’Alessandro from the University of Sydney hopes new legislation in the United States will boost interest in direct air capture technology in Australia.

    Americans bring direct air capture technology in from the ‘crazies’

    Direct air capture start-ups are bracing for a wave of fresh investment after the United States Inflation Reduction Act included the emerging technology in its wide-ranging decarbonisation bill.

    • Jessica Sier and Colin Packham

    Dropping out of uni was the best thing this solar pioneer ever did

    Vince Allen’s disruptive solar cell has broken world records and won investment from billionaires including Mike Cannon-Brookes. Now he’s determined to mass produce in Australia.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

    Elon Musk-backed start-up opens door to the smallest investors

    The Australian carbon capture aspirant funded by Elon Musk’s private foundation will seek its next cash injection from ordinary punters via the Birchal crowdfunding platform.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

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