<p>I'm interested in getting into alternative energy field. What type of engineering should i be looking at? Chem? Environmental? others?</p>
<p>Thanks in Advance!</p>
<p>Material Science Engineering or Chemical Engineering are both good options for alternative energy</p>
<p>what about Mechanical?</p>
<p>Mechanical is pretty good for alternative energy - wind and wave turbines immediately come to mind. </p>
<p>But I tend to agree with ele902: chemE or MatSci is probably the best way to go.</p>
<p>What kind of alternative energy?</p>
<p>Physics, materials science, electrical engineering for photovoltaics.</p>
<p>Electrical engineering for power systems.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering for wind/wave/thermal solar maybe.</p>
<p>I selected Mechanical Engineering back in the early '80's in order to work in alternative energy. Unfortunately, the economics at the time didn't support any activity of significance in the field. Mechanical gives you structural/mechanical design skills for wind and tidal as well as thermal sciences (fluid mechanics, heat transfer) for solar, geothermal, or any other energy conversion work. If you want to work in design of photovoltaics it won't prepare you very well, but will give you the best coverage for the other technologies.</p>
<p>Depends on what you are interested in.</p>
<p>MIT has a list of energy-relevant classes. I'm not saying that you want to go to MIT, but maybe browsing through it will give you ideas of what you want to study.</p>
<p>MIT-EI</a> | Energy Classes</p>
<p>Look at James Madison University. They have ISAT which is the Institute of Science and Technology. It has a variety of renewable and sustainable energy options. Penn State also has a brand new degree named "Energy Engineering". My s and I visited with the head of the program and it sounds fantastic.</p>
<p>Mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering may all play a significant role, depending on the specific technology</p>
<p>materials science engineering and chem E hands down.</p>
<p>What applications does MSE get into aside from photovoltaic and fuel cells?</p>
<p>Being a MechE I can definitively say that the word 'energy' has become the new 'nano' or 'bio' in terms of funding that departments are getting to conduct research. There are a ton of interesting ways to get into the alternative energy world from Mechanical engineering including but not limited to wind, water, clean coal, and I mean heck cars are a mechanical device primarily designed by MechE's so someone is going to have to redesign them for alternative energies or for better mpgs.</p>
<p>^ every single alternative energy application mentioned will require MSE. Every single big change in modern technology is fundamentally overcoming a MSE type barrier. (e.g. current computer revolution with silicon technology, nanotechnology, transition from different ages in human history)</p>
<p>Basically, what MechE's can do, ChemEs can probably do also. I hope you don't think MechE's are the only ones studying engines.</p>
<p>nuclear engineering, if your school has it</p>
<p>i think we should focus on getting to another habitable planet b4 we reach carrying capacity here</p>
<p>
[quote]
What applications does MSE get into aside from photovoltaic and fuel cells?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>On a fundamental materials level there's stuff like thermoelectrics and those crazy magnetic refrigerators that people at Los Alamos have been working on for some time now.</p>
<p>There's also research on stuff such as damage resistant materials for nuclear reactors (all those neutrons tend to break down traditional materials, so they're always looking for ones with longer lifetimes), and I'm sure there's also research going on for better materials to make turbines and junk like that out of. Some people are even looking at creating materials with surfaces which are able to split water into hydrogen and oxygen without having to bother with generating electricity in order to do it. I actually just read an article about this dude that is able to do it using melanin out of the human body.</p>
<p>I did an internship and worked with a lot of people that had alternative energy projects. Most of them majored in materials science or mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>When you think about it, almost any field of engineering can be involved.</p>
<p>Civil => Construction of nuclear reactors structures etc.
Chemical => ethanol and biofuels
Electrical => power systems and fuel cells
mechanical => fuel cells and wind turbines</p>
<p>these are just a few, I could be here all day</p>
<p>Both McCain and Obama have talked about "energy independence". What is the future of the nuclear sector in America? There have not been a new nuclear reactor built in the last twenty years. It takes 4-6 years to just get a liscience to build one and another four years to build one. Nuclear power accounts for over 51% of energy in Canada but less than 10% (I think) in America. So my question is: Is it a good choice to go into nuclear engineering (I'm in Grade 12 currently) in university considering the future of the sector.</p>
<ol>
<li>Obama has not yet said much about nuclear energy... McCain seemed to be optimistic regarding nuclear energy.... (but politics... you'll have to see what happens once one of them becomes president).</li>
<li>Nuclear is more towards 20% in the States because its efficiency has gone up although no new reactors have been built.</li>
<li>Nuclear engineers are very much in demand, and usually does not have any trouble getting a good + stable job.</li>
</ol>