The wide open spaces of Oklahoma's cities and towns mean that their residents are heavily reliant on cars to get around - part of the reason that Tulsa and Oklahoma rated last on Common Current's rating of US cities' readiness for high gas prices. Commuters find themselves carpooling and counting the gallons in ways they haven't since the 70s.

Some are reducing paving; others reverting some roads to gravel. Cities pool purchasing power, raise bond money, try new techniques to stretch their road repair budgets as the price of asphalt, a petroleum product, rises.

It's not about virtual energy, it's about real energy. And it will save you travel energy: the Virtual Energy Forum is a two day online-only event focused on how leading companies can adopt better energy management practices to cut cost, while at the same time adopting clean energy alternatives -- presenting alternative energy technologies, policies, and best practices in a live, interactive environment.

The 8th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities Conference will be held January 22-24, 2009 at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

As the price of oil goes up, we've seen the demand for transit rise as well. But the capacity to fill this demand doesn't just appear when needed; it requires prior planning. Daniel Lerch writes about the dilemmas facing cities and their transit systems in the face of sudden popularity.

Anthony Perl, coauthor of the book Transport Revolutions, talks to the Vancouver, B.C. Georgia Straight about the effect of high oil prices on property values. The upshot: properties that are far from jobs and other important amenities will lose value, while ones that don't require cars will be more desirable. And it's happening already.

The Summer Institute in Sustainability is an intensive professional development program targeted to administrators in corporations, local and provincial governments, and universities and colleges who wish to integrate sustainability as a core value in their organization. Academic experts and working professionals will help you understand how to develop sustainability policies and procedures that are mindful of public policy, stakeholder interest, and the bottom line.

Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. As people wean themselves from auto-dependency, can the transit systems keep up with demand?

The Center for Energy, Environment and Economics at the New York Institute of Technology is hosting their third annual conference, titled Energy Shock and Climate Change: Sustainable Solutions for Converging Crises. A full day of speakers and panelists, including Post Carbon Cities' Daniel Lerch, will explore the issues of climate and energy uncertainty.

We've all heard that efficiency is the cheapest source of power. Here's one way to encourage efficiency. Cues from a "smarter" power grid can prompt end-users (or the computers they've set up in their homes) to be more frugal with energy during times of high demand. The technology is currently in testing phases in private homes.