Matt Dernoga from the University of Maryland and Danny Sptizberg and Stephen Collins from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have published op-eds in the The Diamondback and The Daily Cardinal, their respective student newspapers, exhorting local politicians to support funding for RE-ENERGYSE and calling on young people to make their voice on the issue heard.

Read the full pieces here and here.

Highlights of the columns include:

In order to lead the world in global energy technology this century, we have to do more than invest in green-collar jobs for today. We need to create an unparalleled clean energy education initiative to give our up and coming scientists the support they need to innovate for America. This will ensure the green jobs of tomorrow are ours. RE-ENERGYSE is an important step in the right direction – The Diamondback

Some are calling it the biggest market opportunity in history. Experts of all stripes have repeatedly stated that the nation that wins the clean-energy race will be the nation that leads the 21st century economy. Discovering and implementing cheap, clean and reliable energy technologies is our generation’s final frontier. But, how do we get there? President Obama has proposed doing so by increasing funding for energy education and training through a program called RE-ENERGYSE (short for REgaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge).

Now or in the near future, Wisconsin and the U.S. need to increase energy education. Gaining a strong, competitive edge in clean energy requires more than opening markets with policies like a RPS, but taking advantage of those markets by creating talented researchers and a skilled workforce. As the saying goes, if you teach a man to fish, he will build a clean energy economy. If we fail to invest in today’s students, we will miss a critical opportunity and give other countries a head start in the global clean energy race. This is our chance to lead the generation of a low-carbon economy.  - The Daily Cardinal

One of the greatest successes of both pieces was the emphasis on local benefits to energize students at their universities.

From the Maryland op-ed:

The beloved Solar Decathlon, a competition to build the most attractive energy-efficient, solar-powered house in which this university won second place in 2007, would become part of this program.

Our scientists are already working on cellulosic ethanol and biofuels from algae. The Chesapeake Bay region could significantly benefit from the commercial development of cellulosic ethanol, considering the large amount of biomass we get from all the feedstocks grown.

In the Wisconsin piece, the authors trumpet the 15,000 jobs projected from the state’s Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), while urging legislators to invest further in R&D and energy education initiatives:

The Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming recommended that Wisconsin implement “substantial increases in federal and state research and development (R&D) for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction technologies.” R&D is particularly crucial to figuring out ways to modernize the electricity grid, store wind and solar power and invent breakthrough technologies. CEJA could support R&D by giving UW-Madison—recently ranked among the top 10 universities for cleantech—and other Wisconsin institutions the funds to advance our energy system. To sustain the R&D of clean energy, CEJA must also invest in Wisconsin’s students. At a recent town hall, President Obama said: “We’re not going to be able to ramp up solar and wind to suddenly replace every other energy source … [W]e’ve got to look at how to make existing technologies and options better.” To meet our clean energy goals over the next century, Wisconsin will need a new, well-educated generation of researchers.
To meet the short-term objectives laid out by the CEJA, Wisconsin must also invest in its current workforce. Along the lines of the proposals laid out by the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming, we propose that CEJA directly fund the training of Wisconsinites to create knowledge workers who can build Wisconsin’s clean energy economy over the coming years.

We at Americans for Energy Leadership commend the authors of these op-eds, hope that their student bodies respond by making their voices heard, and hope that other student newspapers will follow suit in expanding the movement to fund RE-ENERGYSE.