$1000 Awards

Winner Name	Essay Title	School	City, State
Brett Close	An Energy Plan For The Northwest	South Eugene High School	Eugene, OR
Regina Mitchell	Energy Resources of the 21 Century	Winston Churchill High School	Eugene, OR
Rebecca Thilo	Consider The Following Situation: An Office Building Experiences A Massive Power Outage	Lake City High School	Coeur D’Alene, ID

The Foundation for Water and Energy Education (FWEE) has awarded five, $1000 college scholarships to high school students in the Northwest who wrote the best essays about the Northwest’s energy future. Additionally, two high school students received honorable mention awards and will receive $500 college scholarships.

Essay Contest

High school students from across the Northwest were asked to write a 2000 to 2500 word essay responding to the following question: What "mix" of resources will be used to meet the region's power needs in 2015?

The only specific information students were given were estimates that by 2015 population growth in the Northwest will increase by 11%, and that consumer demand for electricity will increase by 15 to 25 percent from today’s levels.

"It sounds simple enough, but it’s a very difficult question" said Andy Dunau, executive director of FWEE. "Last year everyone got the wake up call that the Northwest’s electricity supply and cost can’t be taken for granted. We were curious what students think about the future."

Students did a lot of research as they looked at current and future costs of different energy resources, and the sustainability of these resources. Students saw hydropower continuing its strong role as the leading provider of electricity. To meet new demands for electricity, however, students generally favored:

• adding renewable energy resources beyond hydropower (e.g. wind and solar) to the mix,
• the coming of age of fuel cell technology,
• and conservation.

According to Randy Stearnes, FWEE Board president and a community relations officer for Tacoma Public Utilities, "The students really did their homework, and FWEE respected the strong beliefs they formed. They were concerned about costs and environmental impacts. I think their desire to use renewable energy resources and conservation shows that they understand the delicate relationship between producing needed electricity and using renewables and conservation as ways to minimize environmental impacts."

Student essays will be posted on the FWEE web site, www.fwee.org. said Dunau, "This was our first year hosting an essay contest. We hope to provide scholarships each year. It will be interesting to see how students ideas and thoughts change over time."

FWEE’s mission is to provide balanced and informative views concerning the sources, benefits and impact of using water as a renewable energy resource in the Northwest. FWEE’s web site, www.fwee.org, is an internationally recognized resource for exploring and staying current on hydropower issues.

For more information, contact Andy Dunau at (509) 535-7084 or e-mail info@fwee.org.