Henrik Fisker, the storied car designer who has shaped Aston Martins, Fords and BMWs, told the Reuters Autos Summit this week that he now wants a starring role in the green revolution.

But he also wants to make the world safe for sports cars for generations to come.

“Being a car enthusiast and loving cars, to be quite honest, I could not imagine a life without a beautiful, fast sports car,” Fisker said. “I needed to do something to make sure that I could drive one of those nice cars, my children could drive one of those beautiful, fast cars.”

So what was Fisker’s inspiration? What was the epiphany when he realized that the world was ready for the upcoming Fisker Karma, a $90,000 plug-in hybrid with 50 miles of all-electric fun?

Leonardo DiCaprio…in a Prius.

“A couple of years ago it started, by people who were maybe a little ahead of their time. You saw some movie starts like Leonardo DiCaprio buying a Prius.

“He could have bought any car in the world, and I remember seeing that on television and thinking to myself, you know, when you’ve got a guy who could buy any Ferrari or Rolls Royce and he’s buying a Prius, you know something is changing dramatically.”

(Henrik Fisker photo by Rebecca Cook of Reuters; Leonardo DiCaprio photo by Mario Anzuoni of Reuters.)

Reuters Central European Investment Summit, September 28-30, 2009

The former Communist countries of central Europe have been the last to be hit by the global economic crisis, but th e hit they took was among the hardest. Only big neighbour Russia’s deep plunge into recession is rivaling the sharp fall from record economic growth that’s in store this year for the economies between the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.

Global risk aversion and deleveraging exposed the weaknesses that the countries had been able to gloss over during the boom years – which in retrospect appeared to have been, in some countries, a colossal binge bankrolled by cheap foreign credit extended by Western European banks that had to come to an end when funding dried up.

Even the specter of a region-wide meltdown lingered over the countries this winter as investors turned a blind eye on the differences between fundamentally sound countries like Poland, and Ukraine, Hungary or Romania, which could avert the threat of default, social unrest and instability only with aid from the IMF and the European Union.

But since the IMF and the EU moved in and made clear they would let no country fail, a pickup in risk appetite has driven up emerging European assets to the extent that some investors already worry about the next bubble inflating.

Worries remain. Many of the region’s export-geared countries’ recovery will depend on a return of demand for their exports in Western Europe. Unemployment is on the rise. Budget deficits balloon. And the mostly Western-owned banks still face an inevitable rise in bad debt that will continue well into next year and could thwart a fledgling economic pickup.

Key policymakers and corporate leaders will discuss these and related issues at the Reuters Central European Investment Summit on Sept. 28-30 in Vienna and Warsaw. We will be blogging about it here.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk gestures as he speaks during a conference at the Warsaw Stock Exchange August 28, 2009. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Bill Weihl, Google’s Green Energy Czar, sat down at Reuters’ Global Climate and Energy Summit in San Francisco and talked about Google’s solar thermal project, infrastructure costs and where he sees the energy mix heading in 20 years.

Here he chats about emerging clean tech hubs and what the United States should do about investing in renewables.

(Editing/video by Courtney Hoffman)

John Woolard, the chief executive of solar thermal energy company BrightSource, sat down at Reuters’ Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco to talk about energy efficiency, project financing and the future  of carbon-free power.

His advice: build fast!

(Editing/video by Courtney Hoffman)

Rice University’s Baker Institute Energy Forum Director Amy Jaffe says, like many other analysts we’ve spoken to this week at the 2009 Reuters Global Energy Summit in Houston, the supply and demand fundamentals for oil are not in sync. But, will oil investors continue to push prices higher through the end of 2009? Or, will they lose their shirts come December? Check out what she had to say…

What will drive oil prices for rest of ‘09? from Reuters TV on Vimeo.

Rich Kinder, CEO of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, says the Obama Administration’s push to develop alternative energy sources such as wind and solar are not the answer to reducing the nation’s dependence on oil or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Click below to hear where Kinder thinks the U.S. should be focusing its attention.

Kinder: wind, solar not the answer from Reuters TV on Vimeo.

A shroud of uncertainty hangs over world energy markets and industry due to the effects of the global downturn and an aggressive U.S. environmental agenda, making investment decisions in the space more difficult than they’ve been in decades.

Oil prices, which have whipsawed between $150 and $30 a barrel in a matter of months, are in the midst of a rebound tied to hopes that the recession will end sooner rather than later, reviving world energy demand that has been shrinking for the first time in a quarter century.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been pushing forward aggressively with climate, alternative energy and efficiency proposals that could change the economic equation considerably for the world’s oil producers, refiners, utilities, and of course alternative energy producers.

What is the outlook for world energy demand and prices? How will OPEC adjust its output policy to navigate the uncertainty? What big energy projects will go ahead and which ones will wither? How will the landscape impact mergers and acquisitions activity? What are the best opportunities in the green energy space, and what are the biggest risks?

The upcoming Reuters Global Energy Summit will bring you exclusive answers to these questions from some of the sector’s biggest names. The Summit will generate exclusive stories, online videos, blogs and investable insights which will be immediately available only to Thomson Reuters clients during each summit. 

Higher gas prices will likely be a thorn in the side of consumers who are starting to feel more optimistic about the U.S. economic recovery.

Soundbite: Platt’s Oilgram Price Report Editor in Chief Jeff Mower.

Ruben Ramirez reports.

The head of Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, which carries over 10 percent of the world’s oil supply to market, takes a charitable view of Russia’s oil output growth. At a time when oil prices are on the slide, and the OPEC group of oil producing nations is cutting production, he thinks energy-rich Russia must keep pumping more to help the world’s less fortunate consuming nations and their economies.

“What about our beloved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? We can’t do it (let production stagnate). We have to support them,” he joked.

But he added, on a more serious note:

“In the United States they keep reserves for the future and fields which are ready to produce are being mothballed and are awaiting their time. I believe the state of our finances and budget allow us to think about such a rational approach.”