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Students Give
Energy to EESI
Mariah Zebrowski

EESI is designed to facilitate progress toward a global sustainable energy future, but it is energy from students that sustains EESI. From first-year law students who donate time during their stressful initiation to the world of law, to law students employed as research assistants or working as externs, to students from other schools who volunteer during the summer, these dedicated students comprise an integral and valued part of EESI.
Some of these students grew up in Colorado, while others come from California, New York, Iowa, or Florida. Some graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder or Colorado State, while others graduated from George Washington University, Princeton, or Oxford. Several already hold graduate degrees from Columbia, the University of California at Irvine, Harvard, Stanford or the University of Colorado. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, these students all have one thing in common: they care about the future of energy and the environment. See Students, Page 7

Projects:
The Colorado Hydro-Energy Storage Project

Using a unique interdisciplinary approach, a legal team from EESI is working with an engineering team from the CU-Boulder College of Engineering, the Colorado School of Mines, and NREL staff to develop the hydro-energy storage concept to mitigate the intermittence of wind and solar energy generation. The concept uses excess energy from renewable sources to pump water to higher elevations. When there is an excess of demand over supply, the water is allowed to flow down, using the force of gravity, through a turbine to generate power.

Educational and Academic Focus

Interdisciplinary Energy Law Curriculum

With input from the Dean’s Office and law school faculty, EESI is working to significantly strengthen and expand Colorado Law’s present curricular offerings in the domain of energy law and policy.

EESI Sustainable Energy Policy Clinic
EESI is in the process of creating a Sustainable Energy Policy Clinic at Colorado Law to provide students with a hands-on opportunity to understand the complex technological and policy mechanisms involved in creating and maintaining U.S. and international energy economies.

EESI Symposia and Workshops
Once every three years, EESI plans to convene a major conference dealing with sustainable energy law and policy. The first, scheduled for Fall 2007, is entitled “Sustainable Energy in the Domain of International Treaties.” During the intervening two years, EESI will host workshops of distinguished experts.

the energy & environmental security initiative
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