Renewable Energy Jobs?

System

Like most people here, I've spent most of my life thinking about renewable energy (mostly solar and wind). At this point I'd love to get involved in the industry, not on the technical side but rather on the business, financial analysis, and management side (which I what I've done for the past 15 years).

Where would I start? How does a successful person in an unrelated industry make the change over?

BB.

Re: Renewable Energy Jobs?

Personally, I would also look into the conservation side (double pane windows, insulation, new major appliances, weather stripping, etc.) of RE too...

If you have a family to support, Solar/Wind seems to be very dependent on the economy, location, government rebate polices, and fuel prices (boom/bust type cycles).

Remodeling for conservation (including ground sourced heat pumps if you have A/C in your area) seems to be a place where people continue to spend money (in our area, construction seems to bust before the remodeling business).

In our area, solar Grid Tie seems to be pretty steady work (for now--State of California rebates are dropping towards zero over the next months/years). Solar Thermal (hot water/heating) seems to be a more difficult business (plumbing/contractor/maintenance issues?) to stay in. One local electrical contractor that does a lot of Grid Tie system seems to have problems keeping the solar thermal side running--which would seem odd since a solar thermal system costs about 1/3 or less vs a similarly sized Grid Tie system.

-Bill