More people should participate in a debate club. A common assignment is to argue eloquently for a position you don't believe in, allowing you to see how eloquent sophistry can be placed in service of any position.
When it comes to technical questions like energy it should be logic, math, and real data or go home.
I believe the opportunity for that has passed. Every debate competition I've watched in the last decade was just people trying to be as emotive and loud as humanly possible.
If those questions have real implications for human beings, you need to consider more than just the technicals.
In general people want to solve problems. We just disagree on the implementation because everyone thinks their approach is the only solution.