<p>I want to study engineering for a career in renewable energy and have two questions:</p>
<p>1) Which engineering major I choose will depend on which renewable technology I decide to pursue (ie nuclear, solar, wind, batteries, geothermal, carbon capture and sequestration, etc). Which renewable technology I pursue in turn will depend on which technologies are the most promising and economically viable for large scale adoption. Please comment on which technologies will have the most market share when the oil runs out…my gut tells me solar, advanced batteries and nuclear will all be huge.
2) what majors are associated with each technology (ie ChemE and EE for batteries and ME and EE for solar)?</p>
<p>Right now the market seems too segregated to gain much insight on a primary source. Another thought in regards to your post is that any career in this area, especially in the near future, will require quite a bit of education beyond a BS. These technologies are still in the development stage, which in most cases mean small companies full of PhDs or large corporation R&D depts. full of PhDs. </p>
<ul>
<li>Alternative fuels are generally going to be with ChemE (ethanol, etc.)</li>
<li>Batteries are generally in Materials Science and engineering, along with ChemE</li>
<li>Wind turbines will be ME and EE</li>
<li>All will involve cross departmental design aspects</li>
</ul>
<p>Well if you read newsweek and times magazine, there are mixed signals on how viable the renewable energy will be in the next few decades. Lots of start up companies started the renewable energy related companies to get he government funding and their stock rose high until 2007. However now, it worth equal to or little more than when they started business. </p>
<p>There’s no clear renewable energy for companies to invest upon. Solar energy is really insufficient since it require lots of maintenance and the electricity you get for the investment is relatively small. Reknown institute and university such MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UIUC, and etc are trying their best to find more efficient photovoltaic compound to increase maximum the power gain. </p>
<p>The carbon capture technology is specifically design for coal powered electricity. Since the world depend upon coal for most of our electricity need since its the most cheapest way and efficient way to get our electricity need. However carbon capture technology cost alloooooot. To implement it to all the coal base power plant cost billion each… you can get more info from 60 minutes show</p>
<p>Clean energy is something we need indefinitely in near future. I am sure companies like GE, Siemen, Dow, and other big corporations in power are trying to find the most innovative way to get electricity without harming our environment. But not having clear one direction of clean energy really hurts small and mid level comapnies to venture into power when they know how rapidly the market can change when the most effective technology is found. </p>
<p>In my opinion, photovoltaic is the solution for upcoming renewable energy source. Just finding the right chemical diode compound to get the most out of photovoltaic will be challenge for EEs. Although remember, you will probably end up living in rural area if you become an employee to power plant or renewable energy related area. That’s one reason I would not go into power related area.</p>
<p>Thanks, purduefrank. I agree, have to go Phd since the technologies will still be in R/D stages for foreseeable future. Agree too that market will be fragmented because no one technology right now can scale to replace more than a tiny fraction of fossil fuel energy outputs. will be an energy portfolio of technologies working together to wean us off oil. clearly, though, some technologies will have greater market share. what majors to choose for Solar? surprised that batteries don’t require EE. also, seems like you have to break down the renewables industry into subsectors, ie energy production (nuclear, solar, wind) vs. energy transmission (the smart grid) vs. energy storage (batteries). which subsector has best employment outlook?</p>
<p>hillbillie, i really believe in nuclear but seems like a nonstarter in the US. Construction costs to build a new nuclear plant are astronomical and require govt support and subsidies. however, nuclear gets very little political support in this country. even the greens/liberals don’t like it because of the waste disposal issue. seems like nuclear will always be status quo: keep what we have but don’t build anymore. On the other hand, the nuclear work force is aging. How many decades of energy can we get from nuclear anyway? uranium, like fossil fuels, are a nonrenewable natural resource.</p>
<p>The all sound great to me. Smart grid would be tough outside of a controls background, which would be mostly EE. Otherwise I would recommend ChemE since it is rather broad and you can focus on any of those within that degree.</p>
<p>I’m biased though, being a ChemE. I’m also in renewable fuels research, which you don’t have in your subsector.</p>
<p>Note: Nuclear is the best clean fuel you could chase after</p>
<p>leth2323, do what make sense for you. As far as politics goes, you’ll find greens/liberals oppose to wind, solar, or whatever form that is – when the thing is building in their back yard.</p>