Turning Down the Heat: The New Energy Revolution

Video by Jim Hamm Productions with the National Film Board of Canada, 1999 (U.S. release: 2000). Narrated by David Suzuki. Distributed by Bullfrog Films, Inc., 610/779-8226, 800/543-3764;

www.bullfrogfilms.com. 46 minutes, $75 to rent, $250 to buy

Turning Down the Heat is a super introduction to the field of renewable energy as a solution to global warming. Light and engaging, it intersperses short clips from interviews with strong visual images of dramatic weather events and of renewable energy technologies. While it glosses over many technical issues in its presentation, it covers the basic principles clearly and accurately.

The video opens with schoolchildren in Japan learning about photovoltaics with a PV-powered bicycle, and then switches to images of the Maldive Islands, a nation in the Indian Ocean whose very existence is at risk from rising sea levels. The Maldives’ environment minister, describing the results he foresees if developing nations do not vigorously address greenhouse gas emissions, doesn’t mince words: “They will have the death of a nation on their hands.” These and other disaster scenarios are followed by global warming expert Ross Geldspan, who predicts that emissions reductions on the order of 60–70% are needed to stem global warming.

After this dire opening, the film gets more upbeat. Donald Aitken of the Union of Concerned Scientists presents the current explosion of interest in renewables as the next natural step in a progression from preindustrial energy sources to coal and then to oil and gas. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute recasts the current state of affairs with his characteristic wit: “We are collectively having a sudden cessation of stupidity about how we are running the planet.”

Technologies showcased include solar applications in Holland, Japan, and California; wind energy in Holland and India; and Ballard fuel cells in Vancouver. A wonderful low-tech approach shows a woman in Vietnam cooking with methane gas from fermenting manure—the methane is stored in a large plastic bladder overhead, and to increase the flame she simply tightens a strap around the bladder. As the narrator notes, using methane in this way not only avoids the use of highly polluting and scarce alternative cooking fuels, it also prevents the methane from escaping directly into the atmosphere, where it is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Compelling and upbeat,

Turning Down the Heat is ideal for schools, colleges, and anywhere a nontechnical audience can be assembled for a glimpse into the future of clean energy.

– NM