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Introduction

Organizational Overview

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This conference has been organized via a collaborative planning effort into a set of eight working "tracks", each offering a more or less self-contained series of discussions and exchanges around a particular technology theme. These span quite a wide range of technologies, including such things as diverse as photovoltaics, fuel cells, remanufacturing and telework, to cite but four. You will see the full listnig on the navigator bar just to your left. What the tracks have in common is that each is examining its chosen technology area from the vantage of its potential to make significant inroads on the challenging issues of sustainable development in general, and more specifically of its potential for helping us move toward massive reductions of emissions.

In this last respect, the concept of 'zero emissions" -- or more accurately the potential of achieving major, even massive reductions in emissions -- is seen as both a valid goal in its own right, as well as serving as a good indicator of the potential of the technology for helping us move toward a more sustainable planet and the life styles that must go with it. This is thus not a pure technology scan, but rather a combined technology plus policy brainstorming and screen, aimed at informing both public and private sector institutions and actors, as well as the international research community. (A careful statement of the zero emissions for of the meeting will be found in the Null Hypothesis of the Zero Emissions session by our colleague Robert Ayres.)

This is of course an experimental operation, being the third in a series of such international conference organized under The Commons, but also drawing on the experience of the several hundred such Web projects that have been organized, for better or worse, over the last several years. The present meeting has opened with the telework track, which is being developed as something of a precursor for the rest. So, in the first weeks you may wish to have a look there to get an idea of how we intend to proceed in all this.

You will find that there are numerous ways in which you can use and participate in the conference. We hope that you will take a close look and that we will be hearing from you. This series of sessions is being offered not as a substitute for actually getting together from time to time for in person exchanges, but as a valuable complement and new tool for distance collaboration. One among the many that are required if the science and policy communities are to have more and better impacts on that remarkably unsustainable world that is our there just on the other side of the window in your room.

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The various conference "tracks", function as dedicated meeting areas within the overall conference hall. Introductions to each track can be accessed by clicking the "contents' that follow. For direct access to the tracks during the meeting, you will always have the links of the navigation bar to your left.

• Conference Orientation
  
• Toward Zero Emissions
  
• Telework & Sustainability
  
• Photovoltaics Potential
  
• Deregulated Energy
  
• Remanufacturing
  
• The Next TeleConference
  
• Teleconferencing '98
  
• Conclusions/Next Steps
  
• After hours
  

 
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