Students attend campus rally for green power, cleaner air

Students attend campus rally for green power, cleaner air

BY DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press

Student leaders from around the South rallied Friday in Knoxville for renewable energy and cleaner air.

Gathering under newly installed solar panels and a tiny wind turbine on the University of Tennessee's main campus, they spoke of environmental activism and a future less dependent on fossil fuels.

"The energy revolution is coming, my friends. We are the student leaders of tomorrow that are going to make a difference — green power!" said Aaron Barr of Virginia Tech.

More than 200 students from dozens of colleges across the region- Virginia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee were expected to attend the second annual conference sponsored by <u>Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy</u>.

The weekend session included tours of the Tennessee Valley Authority's wind farm on nearby Buffalo Mountain and an address by Christian Turner, first secretary for energy and environment at the British Embassy in Washington.

"We are really excited about being here and learning what is going on at other schools across the Southeast, and getting new ideas for things we can do at the University of Florida," said Sara Leitman, a UF student environmentalist.

A recent editorial in The New York Times asked "where are all the college students?" in the debate on renewable energy and reduced emissions from coal-fired power plants, said Liz Veazey, a recent University of North Carolina graduate now active on the environmental front in Chapel Hill.

"Well, I think they are right here, right now," she said. "I think our generation has realized that we are going to inherit all these problems with dirty energy, climate destabilization and decreased biodiversity. I think it is really exciting to see that we have all come together."

The University of Tennessee's main campus in Knoxville set aside $100,000 for a campus-wide "environmental semester" this spring to underwrite lectures, special courses and projects. The 550-watt solar array and 400-watt wind turbine unveiled Friday in a courtyard between student dorms is part of that endeavor.

"The main purpose was to give students a visual queue about what we are talking about," professor Gregory Reed said. The small solar-wind set up may only be powerful enough to support some walkway lights and a message board, but Reed expects it to generate discussion.