On this week’s episode of Tech Zero, we’ll explain why big oil is laying bets on a new type of geothermal energy. This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

Microwave ovens are great at heating up last night’s leftovers, but can they become the low carbon source of industrial heat for big industries like steel? This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

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. This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

Come foraging on the forest floor as we go looking for the secret ingredient that will make trees grow faster and stronger and more able to suck down carbon. This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

Melting of Arctic sea ice shapes as a critical tipping point in the battle against climate change. That’s why a new start-up is fighting back by making ice. This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

A new breed of builders are tackling the carbon footprint of high-rise buildings from every angle. Guests include: Joe Karten (Built), Victor Rosenberg (ClearVue Technologies) and Tony Dragicevich (Capral Aluminium) This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

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. This podcast is sponsored by Rio Tinto.

An Australian scientist reckons he can break green hydrogen's addiction to renewable energy and the world's biggest hydrogen bull has got onboard.

Meet the scientists working to secure a place for coal in a net zero world.

Electric motors and biofuels are competing for primacy as the aviation sector tries to decarbonise. We talk to those on the front line of both camps.

Brick Lane's head brewer 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.

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. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

When Vince Allen decided to quit his PhD into a disruptive type of solar cell, it might have been the best business decision he ever made. Now his solar startup, Sundrive boasts rich-listers like Mike Cannon-Brookes onto its share register. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

Meet the team at University of Sydney’s chemistry school, whose revolutionary powder sucks carbon straight out of the air. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

Multinational energy companies are pumping money into Raygen, John Lasich’s company, which uses thousands of mirrors, satellite grade solar panels and big dams full of water to make the Mildura sunshine available after dark. Read more: The 47-year obsession behind Australia’s super strength solar cell The concentrated solar thermal project that Lasich’s company Raygen has built on the outskirts of Mildura has its origins in the backyard experiments Lasich conducted in the 1970s. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

From Monday September 26, the Tech Zero podcast is back with eight new episodes profiling the big green ideas that could get us to net zero, and the people who are risking everything to make them work. This season's program includes direct air capture, concentrated solar, carbon free beer, electric plane travel and more. 

Meet the 73-year-old Australian scientist who's developed a special kiln that he reckons will solve Australia's iron ore emissions problems and deliver green iron. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter.  Correction: This episodecredited former US Secretary of State Colin Powell with popularising the concept of "unknown unknowns". The phrase was in fact brought to popular attention by former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.

A tsunami of lithium ion batteries will need to be recycled in the decades ahead to ensure the world has enough critical minerals for the energy transition. And big electric vehicle manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz are turning to an Australian to show them the way. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

The world's first power station that runs on waste oat husks will get you thinking about the untapped potential in your household food scraps. Background reading: Porridge power is the latest innovation to burnish South Australia’s reputation for being at the cutting edge of the global energy transition. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

Background reading: When Samantha Langley realised that the tailings dam at BHP’s Nickel West mine could be a carbon sink, she could not have imagined it potentially offsetting all the company’s mining operations. 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. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

Meet the Dutch entrepreneur behind the cut price solar revolution that's caught the attention of an Australian mining titan. Background reading The machines were about to be sold as scrap metal when Rombout Swanborn stepped in to save a factory that might hold the key to Australia’s hopes of becoming an ultra-low-cost solar manufacturer and breaking China’s stranglehold on the industry. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

Joanne Howarth wants to fleece the polystyrene packaging industry. The Sydney entrepreneur is on a mission to replace those annoyingly-everywhere beads and other squeaky packing material made from oil or methane with something more environment-friendly: wool. Natural health company Blackmores is among the companies interested in the idea. Background reading: Joanne Howarth’s lightbulb moment came while she was working for one of Australia’s biggest meal-kit delivery companies The Labor government has been urged to speed up a plastic policy that will only this year ban the burger ‘clam shells’ axed by McDonalds in 1991. For more on the episode, visit the Tech Zero site on afr.com. AFR subscribers can also sign up for the weekly Carbon Challenge newsletter. 

How will we get to net zero? Australian Financial Review's reporter Peter Ker meets the entrepreneurs leading the charge into the new industrial revolution. Empires will crumble. Fortunes will be made. Episode one drops 6am AEST Thursday June 9.