Title: Student Sustainability Group Wins White House Video Contest
Georgetown Energy, a student-run group dedicated to energy solutions in Washington D.C., and around the world, has won the Best Overall Video award from the White House’s Youth Sustainability Challenge.
The video, one of five selected nationwide, highlighted the group’s $250,000 Green Revolving Loan Fund, its “Solar Street” project and its mechanism for connecting sustainable development activities in underdeveloped countries with financial resources in the developed world.
“Being a part of an organization that has consistently worked hard to promote clean energy at Georgetown, in D.C., and abroad has been an incredible experience,” says Tommy Larson (F’13), who will take over as president of Georgetown Energy in the fall. “We submitted the video with pride in our diverse projects, confidence in the quality of the presentation, and faith that we could gather popular support in the contest. Still, it was a pleasant surprise and a great honor to have won the contest.”
International Collaboration
The short film was shown in late June at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in Brazil.
“This was great news for our team,” says the group’s Jessica Yun (F’14), who produced and edited the video. “We wanted to emphasize the importance of taking concrete action on environmental sustainability.”
Yun says the group filmed the video in a single day at Georgetown, but the editing process took place over several weeks and across several countries.
“Georgetown Energy members sent in photos from the Dominican Republic and voice-overs from the United States while I edited the video in South Korea,” Yun explains. “It was definitely a product of international collaboration.”
White House Challenge
The group will begin providing loans this fall through a special commission to student-driven environmental sustainability projects, and plans to equip seven to 10 university-owned townhouses on 37th Street with photovoltaic panels.
Peter Nulsen (C’12), who founded Georgetown Energy with his twin brother, David (F’12), and Anthony Conyers (C’12), spoke at the kickoff for the White House Youth Sustainability Challenge this past May.
Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality,and EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson, challenged youth from around the country during the event to describe their attempts to foster sustainability in their communities.
“After the event was over, Pete and I decided to enter the contest,” says group member Dan Mathis (F’13). “Publicity like this for Georgetown Energy will really propel us into realms we need to have real success. This is definitely an enormous step in the right direction.”
Generation Energy
The Nulsens graduated in May. Peter plans to join General Electric’s financial analyst program, while his brother studies at Georgetown Law Center.
Luke Schoenfelder (C’12), who led the team’s renewable solutions in Haiti, is studying international development in London with the Marshall Scholarship he won, and Conyers, the group’s president during the last academic year, starts his job with Bank Of America this month.
Larson is set to become president for the 2012-2013 academic year, and Mathis, Christian Holkeboer (F’14) and Samantha Apgar (C’13) will serve on the group’s executive board.
“With GE working on the Green Revolving Loan Fund on campus, solar in the community and projects abroad, we have shown that we are not a generation of apathy,” Larson says in the video. “We are a generation of energy, dedicated to bring clean energy to our campus, to our city and to the rest of the world.”