News: energies

At the beginning of 2003 the French government launched a national debate about the energies. 6 conferences are due to be held during the first semester. The opening conference in Paris was dedicated to the distribution of energy resources in the world, to the struggle against climate warming and to the opening and deregulation of markets. The following conferences that will take place in Strasbourg, Nice, Bordeaux and Rennes will focus on topics such as controlling the energy consumption in industries, companies and households, and reviewing the pros and cons of the different sources of energy. The ending conference will be held in Paris, the participants will try to find consistencies in the previous debates and will draw some conclusions that will help the French authorities to define the next energy policy. (A.C.)