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• Global Food Prices and Energy Supplies: Jun 27, 2008 – Sep 14, 2008

  What is the relationship between rising food prices and higher energy costs? How can we balance our needs for both affordable food and increased energy supplies?

  In recent months, the world has been taken by surprise – shortages of some crop staples have led to soaring food prices and have the United Nations, governments, and international aid agencies asking for help in providing affordable food supplies and avoiding a hunger crisis. Among the many factors contributing to rising prices of basic food staples as well as meat, processed food, and dairy products are higher energy costs and expanded biofuels production.

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• Energyville: Sep 5, 2007 – Jun 24, 2008

  What are the challenges of powering a city economically and safely, while also safeguarding the environment?

  There is a considerable portfolio of energy sources available to power a city today. Many more fuels and power sources are being considered for the future. Which of these sources should we develop? Which sources are most cost-efficient? Which ones offer consistent viability over the long-term, while also safeguarding the environment? Join the discussion to tell us what you think.

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• Renewable Energy: Jun 30, 2007 – Sep 4, 2007

  How do renewable energies become more cost competitive and provide a bigger share of the world's energy mix?

  For more than three decades, the world's renewable energy production has increased and currently makes up a little more than 13 percent of the world's energy supply. Some say that isn't enough, that government and business should do more to increase renewable energy production.

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• Biofuels: Jan 18, 2007 – Jun 29, 2007

  Can biofuels play a more significant role in the world's portfolio of energy resources?

  These days there is a lot of talk about biofuels - fuels made from plants such as corn, sugarcane and switchgrass - as one way to reduce the world's dependence on oil and fossil fuels. After all, they are renewable - and to many, that alone is reason enough to increase their role in our energy future.

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• Nuclear Power: Nov 6, 2006 – Jan 18, 2007

  What role should nuclear power play in the world's energy future?

  Nuclear power has received increasing attention in the global debate over the world's energy future, which has prompted a new look at and new thinking about this source of energy. The debate is not over whether or not the world should "go nuclear," but rather whether the world should rely on increasingly more nuclear power to satisfy its energy needs.

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• Energy & The Environment: May 11, 2006 – Nov 15, 2006

  How will successful long-term energy development co-exist with a clean and sustainable environment?

  Energy is a key driver of economic progress throughout the world. Developed nations depend on reliable, affordable energy to sustain their economies and increase wealth, while much of the developing world needs energy to meet the basic human needs of its citizens.

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• Natural Gas: Mar 15, 2006 – May 10, 2006

  How can we make natural gas more available bearing in mind cost, environmental and local concerns?

  Natural gas is seen by many as "the next prize," with gas demand expected to grow faster than other fuels such as oil and coal. Natural gas has clean-burning properties, lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower capital costs associated with developing power generation when compared with alternatives such as coal or nuclear.

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• Energy Independence: Jan 24, 2006 – Mar 15, 2006

  Can countries be energy independent or should they plan for interdependency as the way of the future?

  Energy independence – providing all of one's energy needs by oneself – is an enticing concept. A country that has achieved energy independence would be free from the demands – economic, political, diplomatic, military and others – which are the unavoidable costs of energy interdependence.

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• Conservation: Sep 19, 2005 – Jan 24, 2006

  How should we expand our energy conservation efforts?

  As energy demand continues to rise along with prices – and concerns for energy security, environmental impacts and fossil fuel depletion increase – energy conservation plays an increasingly prominent role in the practices of governments, corporations, consumers and NGOs.

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• Oil & Gas: Jul 5, 2005 – Sep 19, 2005

  How can we make oil and gas supplies last longer, as the search for other fuels continues?

  Oil has been the engine of economic growth for most of the last century. But there is growing concern and debate about the amount of oil we have left, and how much time we have to act.

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