2008 Regional Energy Forums

Regional forums are a critical element of the Institute for Emerging Issues' (IEI) program of work on North Carolina's Energy Futures. Energy forums were held in the Triangle, Triad, Charlotte, and New Bern areas of North Carolina. These meetings convened stakeholders who shared, debated and developed ideas for creating and expanding local jobs and businesses in the new energy economy.

Each of the regional forums promoted an exchange of ideas, the identification of economic development opportunitites to each region and mechanisms through which local and statewide partners can support further exploration, refinement and implementation of these opportunities.

Of equal importance, the regional forums provided an invaluable source of localized information to identify and build statewide support for innovative policy changes that promote the development of new energy economy jobs and businesses across North Carolina.

Featured at the 2008 Regional Energy Forums was Keith Debbage's report, “Renewable Energy in North Carolina: The Potential Supply Chain.” In preparing the report, Debbage, a 2008 IEI Faculty Fellow, looked at companies with the technical potential to enter the renewable energy market in North Carolina.