Film and journalism students have an opportunity to win $2,500, and test drive a new Tesla electric car, by producing a TV commercial explaining the benefits of investing renewable in energy initiatives like solar.

The Renewable Energy Initiative, a nonprofit group created to encourage growth in the green economy, launched its Renewable Energy Future TV commercial contest earlier this week. University film and journalism students will produce 30-second commercials, encouraging Americans to get their employers to offer clean energy investment options for their 401(K) and IRA programs. The contest deadline is March 31 and the winners will be recognized at an Oscars-style gala on Earth Day, April 22.

“The purpose of the contest is to help people know that renewable energy funds exist and can be added to their 401(k) plans,” said Ken J. Beitel, TREI’s advisory board chair. “The first step is for all of us to ask our HR directors for a clean energy choice.”

There are over $7 trillion invested through IRA and 401(K) funds in this country, Beitel said. And fewer than $750 million of that is invested in clean energy funds and companies.

As the solar and other clean energy industries experience tremendous growth, there are a lot of good investment opportunities in the industry that are being missed because traditional retirement investing practices tend to exclude solar stock and other renewable energy purchases.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” Beitel said. “Consistently 90 percent of Americans say they support an increase in solar and wind development. Yet almost nobody has a chance to invest in renewable energy in their IRAs and 401(K)s.”

The problem is that brokers who handle retirement investments tend to favor older, more established funds, Beitel said.

“Existing publicly traded renewable energy funds have only been around for the last four years or so,” Beitel said.

The commercial contest helps bring publicity to the idea that investing retirement finds in a clean-energy future makes sense even before the commercial itself hits the airwaves.

Beitel is at the Clean Energy Edge summit in Palm Springs, Calif., this week, a meeting of investors aimed at increasing stock purchases in clean energy markets.

“The reaction we’ve had to this idea from large players in the renewables industry has been very positive,” Beitel said.

The Renewable Energy Initiative aims to make this contest an annual event.

Image courtesy of Ken Beitel.