Solar Energy Engineers Are Soon To Be In High Demand
With the world rapidly realizing it must get off of its dependency on carbon-based fuels, it should come as no surprise that a lot of interest is being generated about solar power. At present, various experts estimate only 0.2% of all solar power is currently being harnessed. Yet, if the growth rate currently in the industry is continued, that could change to 100% before the century is over.
What’s actually astounding is solar batteries have been around for nearly a half-century. They were powering pocket calculators and transistor radios back in the 70s. The first solar power home was constructed outside San Francisco around that time, too. With the new national agenda pushing for alternative and greener power sources, it looks like interest in solar energy is on the rise, which in turn is creating a new engineering specialty. If this interests you, go search the interent for information about online education.
At his or her core, a solar energy engineer is a form of electric engineer. In other words, they concentrate on solar power sources and pperform site-specific engineering analysis or evaluation of energy efficiency and other projects involving residential, commercial, or industrial customers. They also are hands-on in designing hot water and space heating systems for new and existing structures, applying knowledge of structural energy requirements, local climates, solar technology, and thermodynamics.
As such, a high school student interested in entering the field should first have strong grades in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields. From there, they should enroll at either an on campus or online college with the objective of getting a BS in Electric Engineering, with a strong focus on any alternative energy classes they can get their hands on. Be sure to read about online degree.
From there, the usual tract is to find employment, get certification in electric engineering, and after a year or two continue with post-graduate work concentrating on the latest and ongoing developments in the solar field. Many times, particularly if one gets a job with the right firm, one’s place of employment will foot this bill.
In fact, as green and alternative energy sources is a truly high priority plank on the current administration’s agenda, one shouldn’t be surprised that there is an incredible amount of educational financial assistance out there. This ranges from well beyond federal and state scholarships and grants, but also from a number of professional societies and public corporations. If you think you would enjoy this, you may also be interested in Online Instructional Technology Degrees.
Still, at present the number of solar engineers is so small the Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn’t delineated the specialty from others due to basic statistical bylaws. What is known is entry level wages are about $48,000. The mean salary of electric engineers is just around $90,000 with full benefits. The upper 10% in the engineering specialty average around $130,000. It may still be anecdotal, but employment work sites have reported a marked increase in the number of ads for solar energy engineers, too.
As it stands a number of solar power plants are already being built or starting to operate in states such as Utah, California, Hawaii and New Mexico. There is also a lot of speculation regarding applying solar energy to the nation’s power grid. As said before, the use of solar power is expected to double every year for some time to come.
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