Renewable Energy Engineers
Overview
Introduction
Renewable energy is defined as a clean and unlimited source of power or fuel. This energy is harnessed from different sources such as wind, sunlight (solar), water (hydro), organic matter (biomass), and the earth’s internal heat (geothermal). Unlike non-renewable energy sources like oil, natural gas, or coal, or nuclear energy, renewable energy is not based on extracting a limited resource. Renewable energy sources provided about 17 percent of the electricity generated in the United States in 2019.
Renewable ...
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
The DOL does not provide comprehensive salary information for renewable energy engineers. It does provide salary data for engineers in all industries. It reports that engineers, by specialty, earned the following salary ranges in May 2019: chemical, $66,810 to $176,090+; industrial, $57,290 to $134,070+; materials, $57,340 to $148,960+; and mechanical, $57,130 to $138,020+. Electrical engineers...
Work Environment
Work environments for engineers vary by subsector and specialty. Engineers may work in laboratories and offices, as well as outdoors, depending on the project. For example, wind engineers travel frequently to inspect turbine installations or wind turbine manufacturing processes. Solar engineers work in office buildings, laboratories, or industrial plants. They may spend time outdoors at solar p...
Outlook
Prospects are bright for green-industry jobs. The International Renewable Energy Agency reported that more than 667,000 people worked in this field in the United States, with a total workforce of more than 11 million around the world as of 2018. Its Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Report 2019 indicated that the biofuel sector accounted for 311,000 jobs, followed by solar (242,000), an...