World Future Energy Summit!

The World Future Energy Summit kicked off in the United Arab Emirates on January 15 and runs through January 17. It's part of a larger event called Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week going on since Monday. Their mission? "The World Future Energy Summit (WFES) is the world’s foremost annual event, dedicated to advancing future energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies."

While I doubt you'll be buying a plane ticket and heading there to catch it, you can still benefit from what's going on there from wherever you are by following them and checking out the stories and events. The World Future Energy Summit: They're tweeting like crazy from their @WFES2013 account, and this is where if you're like me, your first thought is "Why Abu Dhabi?" They thought of that too, and said, 

"Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is a global leader in energy. The emirate, one of the world's leading producers of oil and gas, is investing heavily to become a regional and international powerhouse in renewable and sustainable energy knowledge, technology and capacity."

It's an interesting twist to see a leading oil producer come out as a huge advocate of renewable energy, but it makes sense in a way. If they have the connections to high level energy providers worldwide, who better to push for changes to what the sources of that energy is? Abu Dhabi also hosts the global headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), so the city is a global focal point for renewable energy.

A highlight of the conference is the Zayed Future Energy Prize, named after the founder of the UAE. In addition to awarding lifetime achievement prizes to researchers and corporate awards, they have a very cool category where they recognize high schools around the world that are doing big things with sustainability.

Check out what they're up to and get a global perspective on the search for renewable energy.

Image courtesy of The World Future Energy Summit