The think tank was opened by Dr David Tranter with talks from leading Australian authorities, including journalist Paddy Manning, wind turbine expert Craig Memery, Young Environmentalist of the Year Matthew Wright and Professor John Martin from Latrobe University.

Professor Martin gave examples of what other communities have managed to achieve, emphasising the importance of working with the local council.

"You've got to have grass roots conversations about what to do with energy today.

"It's about energy, it's about what you can do in your homes," he said.

Facilitated by local Tony Coyle the speakers covered global and national emissions issues with a focus on local and effective measures for cleaner energy.

"This shows a good number of people from the community coming together around a complex issue, to work on what they can do for the future around clean energy," he said.

After the speeches the audience enjoyed tea with a local theme and then broke into groups to look at four main areas: energy efficiency, local generation at a local and business level, local generation at a community level and engagement and organisation.

"Wingecarribee has the opportunity to make a name for itself," Mr Coyle said.

See Wednesday's news for more details.

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