Planning NC's Energy Future

State, national and international thought leaders gathered to plan North Carolina's energy future at the 2008 Emerging Issues Forum at North Carolina State University, a long-standing signature event at the university. Forum organizers brought a diversity of leaders from across the nation and around the world to help inform, engage and mobilize the state, including  New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, NC State alumnus Rajendra Pachauri – chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning International Panel on Climate Change – as well as U.S. Senator Richard Burr and Gov. Mike Easley.

Highlights From the Emerging Issues Forum

"The Institute for Emerging Issues is probably the premier public policy institute in North Carolina," says former Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr. "We’ve had the top leaders from all over America over those years – Carl Sagan one year, Bill Clinton – you just name it, they’ve all been here to NC State under the auspices of this forum."

The forum, sponsored by the university's Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI), is part of a larger program of work on energy and the environment, and attracted a record number of participants to campus this year.

IEI is a think-and-do tank focused on tackling big issues that affect North Carolina's future growth and prosperity. From energy to fiscal modernization to improving higher education, IEI takes the lead in convening state leaders in business, public service, higher education and government to address these issues early to prepare for future challenges and opportunities.

Related Links:

• 2008 Speakers' Archive 

• Institute for Emerging Issues

• Energy at NC State

• MBA Students Explore Energy Issues