Possible degrees for fuel cell implementation

[manicmonkie]

Hello. I have posted a couple of questions before regarding some potential engineering career options and I have one final question for you guys. I have started looking at fuel cells and alternative energy sources and I was wondering what are the engineering specialties that are most in contact with this kind of work. I was thinking about being an electrical engineer and finding ways to harness the fuel cell power to get our mass transit and cars running more efficiently. Any thoughts on which areas of engineering are most geared toward this effort? Any help is appreciated.

 

[moltenmetal]

For the fuelcells themselves? Chemical and mechanical engineers. For the fuel (hydrogen) preparation and storage? Ditto. On the power output end, electrical engineers are designing the inverters to use the power generated, but otherwise aren't all that much involved.

Do what you want, but personally I wouldn't bet on fuelcells as a long-term career option. Until we've derived all our stationary power needs from renewable resources, hydrogen as a fuel source for transportation won't be sensible. It makes no energetic sense to generate hydrogen from a fossil fuel source merely because you can use it in a fuelcell- there's just not enough efficiency gain in the fuelcell to compensate for all the energy losses in the process of making, distributing and storing the hydrogen.

Fuelcells are a useful but massively OVER-HYPED technology. Right now the "industry" makes no profit and is entirely fueled by government subsidy and stock market speculation, with some car company money thrown in as a distraction. Far easier to tout the dollars spent on this research and "development" than to spend the money convincing customers to actually pay more for less powerful, lighter and smaller but more fuel-efficient IC hybrid vehicles- much less to tax fuel consumption and spend the money on better public transit so that more cars can be parked.

Fuelcells will be a future industry for sure, but not the size of the present internal combustion engine industry. Don't bet your future locking yourself up as a specialist in this area.

 

[manicmonkie]

Thanks for the heads up. I have one last question then. Do electrical engineers have a good future ahead of them? I think electrical is probably the way to go for me because I was in the army and was taught some of the basics. I excelled and I would like to study the subject much more in depth. Please let me know if anybody knows the future for electrical engineers and any good info about the major areas that they can work in. I try to do some research on my own but haven't found anything substantial yet. Thanks again for the help.

 

[safetydan]

There will always be a need for EE's as long as the world is powered with electricity. Many schools offer dual degrees in electrical and computer engineering, which can make you nearly twice as marketable when it comes time to finding a job. There really isn't a bad direction in which to take in the engineering field, it all just depends on what you really want to do with your career.