Charles, the Prince of Wales, gave a speech at the World Future energy summit in Abu Dhabi this week. The only catch: he wasn't there, and there was no video feed. Instead, attendees at the conference watched a life-size, 3-D hologram of Charles speaking about the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Charles elected not to attend the conference in order to avoid producing the significant greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel.

The Associated Press covered the speech:

The summit included 2,500 delegates from all over the world, including many oil-rich Middle East nations. Perhaps the biggest announcement came from Abu Dhabi itself, which announced an immediate investment of $15 billion into alternative energy projects, and an intent to become the world's leader in renewable energy finance and research (The Guardian).

We can only hope that business leaders follow Prince Charles' lead by increasing teleconferencing (and hologram-conferencing), and decreasing air travel.