This session will showcase a perspective on global warming’s impact on the environment and projected future ramifications. This backdrop will set the stage for the remainder of the discussion, focusing on renewable energy solutions for “powering tomorrow”: what are the promising up-and-coming technologies?, how are they being adopted?, what are the barriers to adoption?, and success stories about the use of alternative energy in providing power to cities and counties around the world....

Few people appreciate just how badly our society will suffer under likely climate change. We are on the verge of unleashing runaway changes, wherein nature's forces accelerate the impacts of humanity's emissions, and we get cascading, unstoppable change. This is important to understand, for we will leave an earth a far diminished place, with many parts unrecognizable. Avoiding such a fate is possible, but only with rapid, serious actions. Presenting climate dangers at length, and without an...

Shell has been developing scenarios to explore the future and deepen its strategic thinking for 40 years. Drawing on wide-ranging expertise from inside and outside the company, scenarios have helped Shell anticipate, adapt to, and respond to oil price shocks in the 1970s and the impacts of technology, terrorism, and globalization in a rapidly changing world. The recently released New Lens Scenarios explore how economic, political, and social forces will shape the global energy system and...

The United States is in the throes of two unfolding energy revolutions. And partisans, convinced that only their side holds the key to American prosperity, security, and safety, are battling over which one should prevail. Oil and gas production, after decades in decline, are being propelled upward by new technologies and high prices, prompting enthusiasts to predict an economic renaissance and impending energy independence. On the other side of the fight, more efficient cars and trucks are...

Can the United States Reconcile Its Need for Homegrown Energy with the Environment? Featuring Frances Beinecke, Tom Fanning, and Scott Tong

Featuring Jay F. Whitacre, Tom Schuler, and Meghan L. O'Sullivan.

Is it economically viable for the United States to achieve twin goals of energy independence AND greater reliance on clean technology in the near future? Speakers: Tom Fanning, Kristina M. Johnson, Lee McIntire, Eric Isaacs, Andrew C. Revkin

Speakers: Kristina M. Johnson, Christopher M. Hyzy, James E. Rogers, Robert J. Gruendel