<p>And yet, there are so many other fields with lots of potential for entrepreneurship. Lots of them. There isn’t an engineering degree that doesn’t have opportunity for entrepreneurship. In fact, petroleum engineering is probably one of the least entrepreneur-friendly engineering degrees out there.</p>
<p>Admittedly, a lot depends on what sort of business the OP wants to start, but it is much more difficult to start your own energy company than most types of companies simply because of the startup costs and overhead as compared to opportunities available to most other engineering degrees.</p>
<p>Geothermal energy is great and all, but doesn’t it require a volcanically active area to function effectively? There aren’t a lot of those in the United States, that’s for sure. The caldera under Yellowstone would be one, and I guess there would be some in the Pacific Northwest. Working in Hawai’i wouldn’t be bad either. Still, it limits you geographically in a way that some people may not be interested in. Add to that the fact that you could get into geothermal energy as a mechanical engineer, for example, and still have a more versatile degree for the purposes of starting a business, and I just don’t see how your suggestion makes sense.</p>
<p>If the goal is to start a business, you want a degree that will give you a fairly broad set of skills, especially in the area in which you would like your business to operate. In addition to that, you need to have, first and foremost, a good idea and a sound business plan for selling that idea. Those are often things you have to learn through means outside of class.</p>