27 high school students and 10 teachers from Thailand, US, Poland and Japan participated Toshiba Youth Conference for a Sustainable Future 2009 from Aug 1 through Aug 7, 2009 to explore how to build a sustainable society by focusing on global environmental issues. Two schools from Thailand were invited to the conference this year.

The participants discussed on the theme “Halve CO2 Emissions by 2050 – Achieving the Best Mix of Energy Resources”. They experienced LED lighting bulbs which consume less energy than incandescent lamps and a new battery called “Direct Methanol Cell” that lasts for 20 hours with less energy loss at Toshiba Science Museum. They discussed about alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear power generation which can replace the conventional fossil fuels to reduce CO2 emission and visited Isogo Nuclear Engineering Center to learn nuclear technology.

Through group activities and discussions, the participants developed not only environmental knowledge but friendship and team work which are essential to fight against the environmental issues together.