At this moment, experts estimate that only 0.2% of all potential solar power is harnessed. The report also notes that this percentile is actually doubling every year. While that still doesn’t mean much currently, the report concludes with at this rate of growth solar power will supply all the Earth’s energy before the year 2200.
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 course.
This specialty goes under several name variations, but the one that seems to becoming standard is Solar Energy Power Engineer, or simply solar engineer. A form of electrical engineering, they concentrate on solar power sources, perform analysis and evaluation of building structures, and often use their knowledge of structural energy, local climates and thermodynamics to aid and abet in further research.
Anyone interested in entering the profession absolutely needs strong secondary school grades in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) studies. After that, they continue their education at a brick and mortar or online college for a BS in Electric Engineering. It is highly recommended one minor in as many alternative energy classes one can get their hands on. Be sure to read about Online Computer Systems Degrees.
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.
On the other hand, considering alternative energy sources is a major plank in the current presidency’s agenda, one shouldn’t be surprised about two things. The first is financial aid for more solar engineers is well above the usual beck and call. Also, the number of companies entering into the field is increasing dramatically. If you think you would enjoy this, you may also be interested in Online Telecommunications Degrees.
At the moment though, the number of solar engineers is so small the Bureau of Labor Statistics won’t delineate them as an independent engineering specialty. What can be estimated is the salary of an electrical engineer usually starts at $48,000, averages about $90,000 and the upper 10% average around $130,000. This includes full benefits.
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.
