Join the energy movement on All Energy Day

The organisation behind the All Energy Day is a team of six TU Delft students who are working around the clock to set up an interesting programme, booking speakers and finding partners for the event. During one of their campaigns on campus, TU Delta spoke with Hilde Huismans, the board’s secretary.

Last year, the theme was how to accelerate the energy transition. What is this year’s theme?

“Our theme and our slogan is: ‘be part of the solution’. We want to show companies that they can be part of the energy transition, and show students that they can take on the challenge too. They can all be part of the solution. Energy is a huge and wide field – it’s not only about becoming more energy efficient. We want to convey the message that energy covers a whole range of different activities. The energy transition offers opportunities for everyone to help find solutions.”

You’re promoting the event here on campus. How do you recommend the event to students?

“We decided that we want to appeal to both bachelor and master students, especially those studying energy-related topics. So we introduced an awareness track for bachelor students during which companies introduce and present themselves. Master students will receive more in-depth information. We try to appeal to everyone.”

Are you offering students information on different levels?

“Yes. As we don’t want master students to get bored and bachelor students to feel lost, we adapted the programme to their needs.”

So bachelor students can orient themselves on a masters while master students can look for a job?

“Yes, that is what we want to accomplish this year. We also invited an international speaker, Jeremy Rifkin. He is a well-known American economist who has written a number of books on the energy transition. He has advised Angela Merkel as well as the European Commission. China has incorporated his ideas into its five-year plan. Rifkin may not be super famous amongst students, but I’m sure he will appeal to a wide audience.”

I’ve heard he asks high rates. Isn’t that a risk for the organisation?

“That’s right. It’s the first time the All Energy Day reserves such a significant amount for the keynote speaker. We work with GreenBlue for financial backing, but we have to get the money back ourselves. So that meant extra hard work to make ends meet. Last weekend we reached that point, which was quite nice.”

What does the event mean to you personally?

“I don’t think I’ll sleep the night before! I’ll be worrying about all the things that can go wrong at the last minute. But when we look back the morning after the event, I’ll be super proud of our team that they managed to pull this off.”

• All Energy Day 2018, Tuesday 8 May 2018, Fokker Terminal, The Hague, allenergyday.nl
• TU Delta readers may claim a discount on the  student’s entry fee and pay only € 5.00