It’s just one event on the club’s very busy calendar. With 750 students, the four-year-old group is MIT’s fastest-growing extracurricular organization. Many of its members aim to build careers in “green tech” fields, and club events offer a chance to network and learn about the challenges and opportunities in emerging energy fields. In recent weeks, members had lunch with the U.S. Energy secretary and toured a nuclear reactor. Others discussed national biofuel policy as part of a wonky biweekly discussion held over beer and pizza at a local pub. Club members say the group exposes them to people and ideas from other disciplines; as a result, M.B.A. types become better versed in the science of climate change, while science geeks get comfortable reading business plans and understanding concepts like return on investment. In contrast to left-leaning campus environmentalists of a decade ago, who might have joined Greenpeace after school, “most of our [members] really believe in the power of the tools of capitalism to solve the problem,” says founder Dave Danielson, who earned a Ph.D. in material sciences last fall.
Down in the basement at MIT, the club is getting some early results. Teich and Schenk have found a group of eight vending machines. Four of them are hooked up to Vending Misers, but only one is functioning. “This is like wiring a stereo,” Schenk says, untangling wires to make the devices work. Later, Teich climbs on top of a different machine to pick off layers of masking tape left over from a paint job that had rendered the gizmo’s sensor inoperable. “We probably just saved [MIT] $100” in reduced electricity bills, Teich says. It won’t save the planet—but every bit counts.
