The power of green energy

Rademacher’s questions highlight a dilemma: it does not seem possible to consolidate the facilitation of growth in social prosperity and fighting climate change. As an advocate for the social market economy, however, Radermacher wants to achieve exactly that and reconcile social and sustainable economic activity. “We could solve the climate problem by going into poverty, no cars, no heating, you do not use planes, you do not eat meat,” says Radermacher, knowing full well that will not work. “The rich people don’t want to become poor to solve the climate issues and the poor people want to become rich. And that adds to the climate challenge the world is facing.”

So, he is on the lookout for new ideas — and has already found some: “As always in history, the only peaceful, soft solution is technology.” This requires technology that converts renewable energies into electricity at reasonable prices. However, “with electricity, we can only solve half of the problem of our civilization.” For Radermacher, it is obvious that much more needs to be done, especially in the transportation sector. He considers hydrogen and synthetic fuels to be promising green electricity alternatives: “In the world’s deserts, there is enough sun and space to produce hydrogen through electrolysis,” he adds.

The hydrogen could then be combined with carbon dioxide (CO₂) to form methanol. The clever thing here is that although methanol is used to power internal-combustion engines, synthetic fuel balances out the effect on the climate — unlike gasoline or diesel. This is because the combustion process only releases as much CO₂ as was previously removed from the atmosphere. “If this kind of recycling takes place on a large scale, emissions can be significantly reduced,” says Radermacher. The right technologies could, therefore, provide a major contribution to solving this dilemma.

However, according to Radermacher, other options exist in the form of what are known as nature-based solutions. For example, the protection of the rainforest, wide-scale reforestation, or agricultural humus formation. These measures all remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and deposit it deep underground by means of biological sequestration. “Nature-based solutions are the only area in which more and more prosperity goes hand in hand with less CO₂,” says Radermacher. These are exactly the kinds of solutions that he has been pursuing. “It is quite unusual, but it works.”