Career Paths in Renewable Energy in the U.S. – Patience Required

A recent graduate from James Madison University in the central part of Virginia (the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley, pictured here) wanted my advice on U.S.-based career paths available to a young man in renewable energy.  I was happy to spend about 15 minutes with him on the phone this morning, during which I provided a few ideas that I hope prove helpful.

Outside of a few specific suggestions, my more general advice was this: be patient.  Keep in mind that the U.S. generally spends far more time and effort bickering about clean energy than it does in deploying it.  There was an hour recently in which 74% of Germany’s energy consumption came from renewable energy; we here in the States are a very long way from anything remotely resembling that.