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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

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
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

November 2022

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

How Elon Musk’s cash helped these Aussies suck carbon out of the air

Convincing investors to back embryonic green industries like ‘direct air capture’ is hard, which makes grants from the likes of Elon Musk all the more welcome.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

September 2022

An aerial view of the RayGen Power Plant Carwarp Project in Mildura

The Aussie who can make the sun shine after dark

John Lasich started concentrating solar power in his backyard in 1975. Now AGL, Chevron and Norway’s Equinor reckon he can deliver it after dark.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

July 2022

Podcast episodes are out every Thursday. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

His company is up 800pc, but this scientist doesn’t care

This week’s Tech Zero podcast was almost finished recording when this millionaire scientist revealed a carbon-killing idea his boss wasn’t yet comfortable with.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

The ‘mad scientist’ who could turn Australia’s iron ore green

Calix shares have gone up 800 per cent in two years and founder Mark Sceats has now invented a kiln that he reckons will solve Australia’s iron ore emissions problems and deliver green iron.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

This CEO made $250m in lithium. Here’s where he’s investing next

Neometals CEO Chris Reed made just under $250 million from a $2 million dollar investment in lithium mining. Now he’s betting on an even bigger opportunity.

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

Why the real money is in lithium recycling, not mining

Neometals CEO Chris Reed made just under $250 million from a $2 million dollar investment in lithium mining. Now he’s betting on an even bigger opportunity.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

June 2022

This surprising item is feeding power into SA’s grid

In a sleepy corner of South Australia, waste oat husks are being used to generate dispatchable, carbon-neutral power.

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

Tech Zero episode 4: How to use food scraps for energy

A tiny South Australian town that was the birthplace of Bob Hawke is converting oat husks into energy, and biogas could provide up to 9 per cent of Australia’s energy needs.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
Oats used in the production of biogas.

How ‘green gas’ could soothe the energy crisis

A huge gas resource equal to 5 per cent of domestic consumption could be delivered by 2025 if the government adopts a target for turning organic waste into biogas.

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
BHP’s Samantha Langley  at the Kwinana nickel refinery south of Perth.

Carbon credits for mine wastes on the agenda as BHP plots big sink

The Clean Energy Regulator is considering making mine wastes eligible for carbon credits as BHP says one dam could offset its iron ore and nickel mines

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

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