Juice: Imagining the Future

Immersion in the complex world of energy laws, regulations and bottom lines, which are arcane and obscure to the vast majority of the population, skews one’s perspective.

Mine, however, got a needed adjustment last weekend.

I coached some high school seniors from low-income communities on their personal essays for upcoming college applications. The majority of students I worked with, much to my surprise, were very interested in energy.

One of the young men loves high tech and wants to develop software to make living spaces highly energy efficient with a few clicks. Another student is enamored with fast cars and wants to work with carbon materials and nanotechnology to create vehicles that can be constantly charged by the static electricity in the surrounding environment.

When I mentioned the “smart grid” and “vehicles to grid,” I was met with blank stares. Opaque energy industry lingo doesn’t do it for them. What grabs them about the emerging new wave of green, efficient energy technologies are the cool convenience factors. They include clicking on an app regardless of where you are to turn up or down your apartment’s air conditioning, heating, and/or rice maker, and driving a sleek car without ever having to make expensive and annoying stops at gas stations to fill up the tank.

These students’ enthusiasm and unadulterated perspective is a valuable renewable resource that should be used to help fuel the energy sector towards a brighter carbon lite future.

The industry is at a crossroads given that the traditional utility business model can’t accommodate the expansion of decentralized alternative energy resources and the boom in new technologies. Regulations can’t keep up either.

Interested students, unlike many in the outmoded utility world, don’t see the hurdles, only the opportunities. They bring fresh eyes and minds and potentially new ways to solve problems and challenges.

As Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world – stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

There needs to be more opportunities, including funded programs and mentoring, to engage and educate students about energy—from its attributes to its possibilities.

There is a smattering of limited programs out there.

The California Energy Commission’s Energy Quest educational program developed in October 1995 is intended to engage the interests and creativity of students from K-12. (October happens to be energy awareness month, according the Energy Commission).

Its’ fairly obscure website includes answers to fundamental questions—from nuclear to conservation—and provides tools for teachers. It’s included in the list of resources distributed to schools by the California Environmental Education Information Network.

However, there has been no funding for the program, including for commission staff to go to educational conferences, for the last five to six years because of budget cuts. Thus, it is now little more than a website, with excellent resources but also deficiencies. They include lack of promotion to increase awareness of the site and limited ability to update the material. Most of the information is presented in colorful, cartoon displays with simple language for grammar school kids. But elsewhere, the site uses energy jargon. The “solar facts” section, for instance, reads like a page cut and pasted from a regulatory proceeding.

There also is the U.S. Department of Energy’s annual Solar Decathlon.

Every year the DOE hosts a competition in which colleges compete to build solar powered, energy efficient homes that are zero net energy. A few years ago, I toured a bunch of the models on display and found them fascinating, innovative and fun.

Next week, 17 college teams with more than 2,000 students will display “affordable, attractive and comfortable” model homes they designed and assembled in the DOE Solar Decathlon village in Irvine, CA.

In addition, there is the PEAK program funded by the private and public utility ratepayers in California. It provides teacher training and curricula, including demonstrations, activities and events, to inspire students in grades 3-7 “to take action to create a more sustainable world and to educate others about how to use energy wise.”

These, energy programs only scratch the surface during these times of constrained resources and climate threats.

We can do so much better. There are models out there worth imitating, including from the field of wildlife education programs. For example, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History has two mobile classrooms that visit schools to teach kids about critters and plants.

It goes week to week from school to school to share lessons about wildlife and the natural environment.

Providing more tools and resources to tap into the imaginations of students can lead to a richer and cleaner future for all. There is no excuse for not supporting more educational programs that help California continue its clean energy future makeover. —Elizabeth McCarthy