Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 5, 2011- In 2030, when you plug in your toaster, car or smart phone, where will the electricity come from? Or, will the electrons be there at all?

In the midst of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster and as summer peak electricity demand looms in the northern hemisphere, world-leading energy scientists, future leaders and a group of experienced advisors are meeting in a unique think-tank experiment to envision how we can best prepare for a sustainable and safe global electricity future.

Launches June 5th (to 9th) at 1:00pm with an Address from the Governor General of Canada

Over four days of private working sessions, a panel consisting of a dozen scientific experts will share and debate their visions and technological expertise for the generation, distribution and storage of electricity looking towards the year 2030, overseen by seasoned mentors and a forum of next-generation leaders charting a course for implementation.

After half-a-century of promise, will fusion power finally deliver its first electricity? Can we safely rely on recycling and re-using nuclear fuel? Does our electricity future include paint-on photovoltaic panels that will split water to produce hydrogen gas for electricity production?

"Our goal is to tackle the energy challenges of this century from a scientific perspective first - and then factor in the economic, social and environmental implications, leaving politics until last,” says Wilson da Silva, moderator for the Equinox Summit: Energy 2030.

Over a dozen public events streamed live and on-demand In tandem to the working sessions, the Equinox Summit aims to renew the energy dialogue in homes across the globe through a series of plenary sessions, topical lectures, and live panel debates on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin - all streamed live online and on-demand.

The Equinox Summit is the inaugural event of the Waterloo Global Science Initiative and is taking place at Perimeter Institute – a world-leading centre for theoretical physics.

“It’s a perfect venue for a future-looking energy summit,” says da Silva.

“Science has been the greatest single factor contributing to the health, prosperity and the advancement of our civilization. It is transformative, and that's the kind of power we need to tap in order to solve some of these really gargantuan challenges."

Cover the event on-line - here’s how:

• Watch over a dozen public events streaming live at http://wgsi.org/video
• Visit http://wgsi.org and sign up for our mailing list to receive daily top takeaways and story ideas.
• Use the hashtag #EquinoxSummit, or glimpse inside the strategy sessions with #EquinoxInside and a constant stream of photos at our wgsisummit Flickr stream

About WGSI
Founded in 2009, the non-profit Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI) is a partnership between Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo. WGSI aims to present highly focused international conferences that can advance dialogue and catalyze the long-range thinking necessary for scientific and technological solutions of the future.

Contact the Equinox Summit dedicated media newsroom for help arranging interviews with event participants, or for media enquiries. The media room is open June 5 to June 9.