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The renewable energy industry is expanding rapidly, putting the sector under pressure to find new skilled engineers. The European Master in Renewable Energy is of great interest to RE companies as it delivers qualified engineers equipped with the latest skills and the right experience for a successful career in their industry.

Information in this Section:

Career Outlook for Renewable Energy Engineers
Photovoltaics: "The gun has gone off"
Bioenergy in expansion
Energy Conservation in Buildings
Events / Job fairs
Web Sites Dedicated to Jobs in Renewable Energy

 

Career Outlook for Renewable Energy Engineers

The prime objective of the Master is to prepare students to a career in renewable energy. The prospect of finding work within the renewable energy sector has never been so high, either as a contractor, a consultant or a researcher. Below are articles on recruitment perspectives and events as well as links that may be helpful to find employment in the RE sector.

  • Didier Mayer, President of Eurec Agency, confirmes that the renewable energy market will create up to 1.000.000 Jobs in Europe until the year 2010
    (read more)     (French article)

  • New jobs in the field of renewable energy and rational use of energy in the European Union
    Examples from Germany, France, Greece and Italy - Study carried out in the framework of the PREDAC project
    Within this working group, new and/or emerging professions or newly created business sectors in the renewable energy and energy savings sector have been identified in four countries. The study was completed by the general context of job creation in the countries of concern, as well as the host structures where the new profession can be employed. The present report contains the main results of this work.
    (To download the study click here)

  • A nice overview of career opportunities in the renewable energy sector in general and sorted by technology is given on the Science Master website. If you are considering a career in renewable energy, their fact sheet can be useful. Information on each of the major renewable energy technologies is given as well as the different types of employment you might find for each technology.

  • Energies renouvelables: un marché économique en plein essor
    "Une croissance de 40% par an, plusieurs centaines de milliers d’emplois crées d’ici 2010 :la France saura-t-elle saisir l’opportunité de ce marché émergent?" - EUREC President and Professor at Ecole des Mines de Paris, Didier Mayer answers at some questions on energy and employment
    (To read the whole interview click here)

Photovoltaics: "The gun has gone off"

2 MILLION JOBS BY 2020 : THE BOOM OF PHOTOVOLTAICS

  • 2 million jobs by 2020: The average growth rate of more than 40% for the past few years makes of photovoltaic industry one of the most rapidly growing in the world. With the potential to create more than 2 million jobs by 2020, the boom in demand for photovoltaic technology will not only help defeat climate change but also provide substantial employment. The latest Solar Generation report produced by EPIA, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association and Greenpeace, delivers a comprehensive outlook of socio-economic, industrial and environmental benefits of photovoltaics.
    (Download the report from the EPIA website here)

  • Great employment opportunities in the PV sector: The University of New South Wales (Sydney) on the huge dimension of jobs being created by the photovoltaic industry
    (read more)

  • Photon-Magazin: The PV industry is raking in fantastic profits at the moment – especially those companies at the beginning of the value chain, according to Michael Rogol‘s new study: »Solar Annual 2006 – The Gun has Gone Off«
    (read more)

  • German photovoltaic industry: Some time ago the generation of electricity from the sun was merely a utopia – now it’s a booming industrial sector.
    (read more)

  • PV to see impressive gains: Analysts believe that the photovoltaic industry will continue to see impressive gains in efficiencies and cost reductions as economies of scale come into play with larger production facilities.
    (read more)     (look at the fourth paragraph)

  • PV industry prepares to steady growth: The photovoltaic industry is going to remain for some years one of the most dynamic economic sectors globally. (read more)

Bioenergy in expansion

BIOENERGY MARKETS DUE TO GROW FAST ALL OVER EUROPE

  • Major shift to bioenergy: Under the pressure of soaring oil prices and growing environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major international switch from fossil fuels to renewable bioenergy, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
    (read more)

  • Leading biofuels producer Abengoa: market study bioenergy. Production is expected to grow over the next years to cover the demand.
    (read more)

  • Back to the Future: Substituting Wood for Oil with the “Forest Biorefinery”. A report by the University of Brithsh Columbia on the potential of 2nd generation biofuels.
    (read more)

  • Conergy AG: Additional growth spurt through bioenergy: Hamburg-based Conergy AG has been awarded a contract by its subsidiary SunTechnics for the turnkey implementation of two large-scale bioenergy installations with an investment volume totaling some EUR 30 million.
    (read more)

  • U.S. plans tripling its bioenergy by 2010: The U.S. President has charged the Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency to modify and coordinate their programs to promote an increase by 3 times the amount of biobased products and bioenergy produced in 2010.
    (download PDF)

  • Good perspectives for bioenergy jobs: In Europe, predictions estimate that the increase in energy provided from biomass fuel production could result in the creation of over 515,000 new jobs by 2020. This prediction took account of the direct, indirect and subsidy effects on employment, and jobs displaced in conventional energy technologies.
    The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory reports that for every megawatt of biomass power produced, 4.9 jobs are created while the Department of Agriculture predicts that 17,000 jobs will be created per every million gallons of ethanol produced. Given the rapid growth demonstrated in biofuels this can only be good news for the employment prospects.
    (read more)

Energy Conservation in Buildings

FRAUNHOFER ISE MARKET SURVEY: ENOURMOUS POTENTIAL FOR PASSIVE AND LOWEST ENERGY HOUSES

Press Release
The number of passive and lowest-energy houses will increase dramatically in the coming years. This is the result of a recent survey by the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems, in cooperation with two market research organisations, the Freiburger Büro für Solarmarketing and the Energieagentur Regio Freiburg GmbH. The survey was commissioned by MAICO in Villingen-Schwenningen, German producer of heating and ventilating systems for passive houses, and partner of Fraunhofer ISE.

One hundred and eighty German architects, contractors, prefabricated housing manufacturers, designer engineers and manufacturers of ventilating units were questioned about the development of optimal construction methods. A further 25 consultants, scientists and representatives of funding institutions were also interviewed. Similar surveys also took place in Austria and Switzerland.

Experts predict a substantial development in the Passive and lowest-energy house market. It is estimated that on average, nearly every fifth new building will be a Passive house, and every third, a lowest-energy house by the year 2010. "Many participants in the survey believe that there is no reason today, to build a house with less exacting energy standards. This confirms that this is the start of a new trend in building technology”, says Andreas Bühring of Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg. The advantages are so clear - low heat requirements, increased living comfort, low additional costs and reduced dependence on increasing energy costs - that it is immediately worthwhile to invest in the technology.

From the survey results, the Büro für Solarmarketing in Freiburg has been able to develop clear scenarios for the quantitative market development of Passive and lowestenergy houses. The results are impressive: even in the worst case scenario, the number of Passive houses will increase from 1,300 today to 60,000 units a year by 2010. The 3-litre house market will increase from 3,500 today to 100,000 in 2010. By then, half of all new buildings will be Passive or lowest-energy houses.

“This development will not happen automatically. It requires architects, designers, and planners to take a fundamentally different view of their communication and marketing strategy”, says Jürgen Leuchtner from the Büro für Solarmarketing. Nearly all of those questioned mentioned the necessity for strategic, offensive marketing to successfully mobilise the available potential.

Fraunhofer ISE supports industrial companies in developing compact ventilation units with heat recovery and exhaust-air heat pumps to provide efficient heat supply and ventilation systems for such buildings. In field tests and with the Insitute's test stand, scientists are doing research on the products of various manufacturers to support them in the optimisation of building services technology.

Events / Job fairs

More to come...

Web Sites Dedicated to Jobs in Renewable Energy

EUREC Agency is collaborating with the organisationlogo of greenjobs

Greenjobs to help RE Master students to find employment after their studies. Greenjobs brings recruiters and job seekers together in the renewable energy industries. Please visit their website to see employment opportunities within the renewable energy sector.

 

The following links are further recruitment websites dedicated to renewables and environmental issues:

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