Speakers speculated on topics ranging from virtual realities, cybernetics, and what post-carbon life would be like for mankind.

FORBES: The Limits of the Virtual: Why Stores and Conferences Won't Go Away

Last week the Department of Energy announced the startup of the Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Center (PC4) in Gaston, Alabama.

FORBES: Still Chasing Clean Coal, US Opens Carbon Capture Lab

There are essentially two methods to remove carbon from fuel: post-combustion and pre-combustion.

FORBES: Carbon Capture And Storage: Yea Or Nay?

More than half of the warming during the twentieth century occurred prior to the post-World War II economic boom, yet atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions rose minimally during this time.

FORBES: Ten Years And Counting: Where's The Global Warming?

Germany's four big power producers have undertaken to post weekly production figures on the website of a second carbon-trading exchange, the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood