At this summer’s Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting in Germany, participating laureates and young researchers came from all over the world to discuss chemistry. The Nature Video team filmed three discussions on issues that matter to the current generation of chemists, including the world's pressing problems and how chemistry can help us to solve them. Some of the dialogue focused on the global energy crisis, as scientists are charged with finding alternatives to fossil fuels.
In this film, Nobel laureates Steven Chu and Hartmut Michel visit a farm with three young researchers to consider our energy future. They ask whether biofuels can power the planet and, if not, what are the alternatives? The researchers are full of optimism but Chu, a former U.S. Secretary of Energy, brings them back down to Earth with the harsh reality of economics, while Michel envisions a future powered by clean electricity.