Energy Engineering

post where and the curriculum.

A ME degree is an over all degree were the course class apply such as Thermals

For example, this is UCLAN university located in the UK, offering a Beng in energy engineering: Year 1 Compulsory modules Analytical methods Introductory mechanics Electrical principles Drawing and CAD Engineering Applications Manufacturing engineering YEAR 2 Compulsory modules Mathematics and simulation methods Mechanics, Kinematics and materials Instrumentation and control Thermo-fluids and CFD Electromagnetic systems Operations Management YEAR 3 Compulsory modules Advanced mathematical and simulation methods Control systems Engineering design Energy and power generations systems Project

To me, nothing wrong with the courses.

This is the course structure for Beng energy engineering at ITT Tallaght university in Ireland, don't you think it is far more impressing(more direct energy related courses): Course Content Semester 1 Design with Computers 1 Energy Science 1 Traditional Energy Sources Global Environment Learning to Learn at Third Level Semester 2 Circuits & Schematics Energy Science 2 Renewable Energy Thermal Energy Analysis Electrical Fundamentals Semester 3 Environmental Technology IT Network Management Energy Control Systems 1 Power Generation Electrical Machines and Drives Semester 4 Energy & Environmental Regs Energy Control Systems 2 Renewable Energy Systems Process Heating Semester 5 Technical Mathematics 5 Transport Financial Analysis Refrigeration and HVAC Energy Distribution Systems 1 B.Eng Energy Project 1 Semester 6 Technical Mathematics 6 Demand Reduction Design & Materials Energy Auditing Operations & Business Management B.Eng Energy Proj 2

What is shown is fundamentals, this you need. I don't recall the exact numbers but you only use about 7% of what you learn in college. I'm sure that also offer more course in what you feel you need as electives.

This elective show your interests in the area.

I don't know of any engineering curriculum that just has what you need to learn in a niche market.

More then likely, to get to learn that niche you would require a graduate degree (aka Masters degree in the States)

Your question is too broad.

Have you completed any college to date? Is this electrical engineering or mechanical engineering based?

I am thinking that energy engineering is kind of a niche market. Hopefully, someone hasn't been selling you that this is where your future and fortune lie.

If your just starting college, it really doesn't matter what courses you take for the first year or even two. They are all pretty much weed-out courses to get rid of students that don't have the fortitude to take on the real meat.

If you are sure that engineering is your future, just enroll in mechanical or electrical as you desire and sort out the specialized courses once you get the first year under your belt. You have time to decide.

I'm starting college for the first time in September 2015. I have been told that energy engineering is a mix of chemical,electrical, and mechanical engineering altogether. My purpose is to learn everything about alternative energy and master it and I don't really think a mechanical or electrical engineering degree would give me that, don't you think too? And if I went for mechanical engineering how could I chose energy related courses(is there any?) Thanks.

For first starting college, you'd be surprise what one doesn't know.

I wouldn't be too surprised that after the second/third year, your interests will be elsewhere in engineering.

There is no answer here.

Remember, College only instructs you on the tools (education), it's up to you to apply them.

Good luck

Are you serious? ME has a broad coverage in energy related field, we studied the 4 laws of nature pertaining to energy, availability and irreversibility in general macroscopic scale (reality) If you want hardcore get Chem Eng. They deal on statiscal approach and Nuclear fields too. I recommend ME and Physics a perfect combination.

"My purpose is to learn everything about alternative energy and master it..."

Mastery isn't going to happen in 4 years at any university. It isn't going to happen with additional graduate studies, either. Mastery comes with learning the fundamentals (that's where university comes in), learning how to keep learning (that's what your schooling should have already helped you develop), and practicing the art.

Practicing the art happens in the Real World. The school work will help open some doors so that you can practice your art, but school work will not give you mastery.

Many of us who frequent these CR4 discussions have mastered our particular subjects, but we still come here because we learn from each other. That continual and continuous desire to know more and become better is, perhaps, the most important skill you need to develop, because that will lead you to all the others.

The Master cellist, Pablo Casals was once asked, when he was in his 80s, why he still practiced 4 hours every day. His answer, "I think I am getting better."

If you can imagine yourself as an octogenarian still interested in alternative energy and the problems involved in finding the right questions and answers, you will do all right, no matter what university you start with.

Take Mechanical Engineering and BS Physics if you want to be a hardcore. If you finish MEng it will be a year or 2 to finish BS Physics

I'm sorry to read that this program disagrees with your idea of what an energy engineer needs to know. You give us very little information to try and help you decide the course of your life. The first thing is this nebulous title of an energy engineer. All engineering disciplines involves the use and direction of energy in one form or another. An educational program to obtain an "energy" engineering degree would therefore imply a broad spectrum of different engineering disciplines would be in the curriculum but never to the depth of a degree in that engineering field. In all of the disciplines there will be a foundation of introductory classes that must be covered so you can understand the principles of the science/engineering program you take. The first four to six semesters of a bachelor's degree will normally include anywhere from two to six classes in each of the disciplines of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (especially Calculus and Statistics) along with whatever diversity classes to fulfill the Humanities requirement.

IMHO the most important classes in the non-technical realm will be the writing classes. An engineer tells others how to either build something or what their analysis tests tells them about something. If your writing cannot clearly and concisely convey your ideas to another then you will never make a good engineer.

As for your understandable but probably flawed desire to not waste time and money, I believe you have a few misconceptions. No degree will guarantee you a job. We cannot accurately predict with absolute certainty the future. [Your Statistics class should explain that in finer details.] As such, some of your schooling will never be useful to you again in your life. You will not know which classes will never be useful until you both take the class and live out your entire life.

But isn't the program at ITT more energy related?

Talk to the schools Dean of the Engineering Department.

He/she can better explain the curriculum than any of us can.

It doesn't matter what we think about any program. If you think that it better fits what you want to do then apply there.

Good Luck

I'll be taking a big risk if I apply to ITT. They answer in August while UK universities answer me in January. I must put a non-refundable 2400£ down payment in January if any UK university accepts me. Otherwise, I would have to reject the UK universities and take the risk of applying to ITT and if I'm not accepted there, there is no going back..

I don't know how it is in the UK, but your first few years are fundamental courses, see if any of your educational credits are transferable to other colleges if you change your mind.

These colleges should have student advisors for this.

Since January is soon upon us a word of advice. When you take your exams to write your thesis, don't wait like you did with your decision for college.

again good luck.

So the first two years of any engineering will be exactly the same anywhere?(Does that include foundation year?) But if you check the ITT degree structure compared to UCLAN's, where are the common courses? Thanks

No, simular but not exactly, your fundamental classes will be similar, such as math, algebra, calculus, physics, chemistry. These are your fundamentals.if the colleges isn't already on Christmas break, I suggest you meet with your student advisors, it sounds like you haven't already, and if that's that case, there is nothing here we can further help you with.

Unfortunately I don't live in the Uk, but what should I ask anyways?

Was this by any chance a last minute decision?

Because right now, I'm only humoring you.

I'm not going to do that, because I think you need to do your own research. You have talked to someone on the phone at each one, haven't you? You need to make up your own mind, really.

Welcome to the real world. Nothing done is without risk. At the same time if you choose to do nothing then nothing will likely happen.

If I were in your situation I would produce a a table of the five programs you want to be enrolled in. I would then identify their academic and other minimum acceptance standards to see if you have a plausible chance of being accepted. Identify your academic and budgetary standings. Make a reasonable guess percentage of how likely you feel you will be accepted by each program. Identify the good and bad attributes you perceive today of each candidate academic program. Assign a positive numeric value for each good attribute and a negative numeric value for each bad attribute. Generate a percentage ratio of the sum of the good and bad attribute numerics divided by the RMS sum of the good and bad attribute numerics. Eliminate any candidate with a negative value here. Multiply this good versus bad ratio times your anticipated acceptance number. This will now give you a way to rank your choices in a more methodical "engineering" way.

You must accept the risk of making a bad choice with any method of choosing you take. If you don't then no choice will ever happen and failure of obtaining an engineering degree will be guaranteed.

This is your life, use it.

Great application of engineering here haha. But this is such a big risk and my parents cannot afford to take it. Plus, I have just called ITT staff, they said that they first give priority to Irish people, and then the space remaining would be filled with Internationals. Altough I am good academically, turning down all the UK university to attend ITT would not be a wise choice in my opinion..

Then go for a wiser one. Only, don't wait too long to commit otherwise you will find that all the places on that particular course have been taken.

You do know how to use a telephone, don't you?

I have already applied to ITT and UK universities. A telephone for..?

...talking to the individuals at those institutions that can answer all your questions!

Lol?

Oops, irish hmmp. I say, i have bad experience with irish Boss once. The only boss i had who prentend to be optimistic yet not. A proud and noisy guy seem like he is always talking to guys with poor iq like him. A 30 minutes meeting will usually be a one and a half hour. Horrible..I wonder if he'd be able to cross the corporation to another level without the tilt. He hired alot of newbies puppet who's only good in appointments. But I understand him being an amateur in the business. I hope he will have another schooling masters in personal relations to customer and employees. The fool implemented a strict compliance of none sense. This does not imply to all irish in here. I guess that guy is the only, a walking negative.

In a state univ. Ive been way back 1997-2000 our rate per semester is only about $2. If you pass all the subjects you enrolled the preceeding semester, then you'll have free tuition on the suceeding term. A lot of indians are now going here for the cheap education. We have books, yet we don't have enough laboratory stuff to ponder. If you don't have enough imagination you will certianly fail. I am a product of such.

But my colleauges went to some outstanding corporations worldwide. Me? I'm taking up masters in CR4

anyhow, what's your idea on energy by then?

First of all, quit the AP. I'm giving you a little more time than most AP's, but not much. You say this is your first time posting, but there has been someone else lately also inquiring about 'energy engineering'. Must be the current hot topic (again). I graduated from a US state university in 1974 ('Google 1970s oil crisis') with a BSME, no experience and no idea of what I wanted to do. I had gained an interest in energy through a Thermodynamics class and probably then current events. I got a job with the chemical division of a big oil company and ended up staying there over 20 years. Many of the projects I worked on were related to energy conservation. Since then, I moved cross-country and have worked in food manufacturing, for a proprietary building products company, and now I 'work' part-time with a friend who sells material handling equipment. My experience has been that a broad foundation prepares you for future unknowns.

In any case, you should make sure that you receive a good thermodynamics course or 2 so that you don't waste your time and energy chasing after over-unity devices etc.

There was another kid who came here wanting it all laid out for him, too.

How can we know what your talents/skills/likes/aptitude/inclinations are if you don't know yourself? It sounds like you want someone to just lay out an express route to the future and success for you.

Go back and do a search here for the other kid. His name (something you should give yourself, Anonymous posters are not held in high esteem here) contained the word energy.

If you can successfully find that thread, you may be worth some effort to help you.

If you can't perform a simple site search here, then engineering is not your field.

Get a name!

Usually, what you learn in school, be it college or post or prior is how to learn. Few college graduates use much of what they studied in their day to day jobs. They have to take over new tasks as needed and find out how to accomplish those tasks. It is better to get a basic degree like EE, ME, or CE and minor in energy for a few more courses. The energy engineer offerings vary greatly from institution to institution and have not been around long enough to be solidified into a concept that employers will know what you have. The same was true of engineering in general up until the early 1900's. My own son wanted to be an Automotive Engineer and I talked him into going for a ME with an AE minor instead. He got both sets of information with only 9 more credit hours. He was very happy when the bottom fell out of the economy in 2008 because he had more to offer employers.

Don't be put off by the "generality" of the courses. They are indeed what you will need to get into the energy field. Besides trying to impart some knowledge, engineering courses are designed to make you think, not just regurgitate facts and formulas. A good basic knowledge of a lot of different fields never hurts, or without the knowledge, knowing how and where to look it up. I can recall instances in my education where I thought, "where will I ever use this?", and over the years, I have "used this".

I cannot see entering an engineering program as a waste of money and time(call me a little prejudiced as I am an engineer) , it should give you problem solving ability, and to me, that's what an engineer does even if it isn't related to engineering.

You have to start somewhere and these days your options are probably not that limited. And since the degree is going to take a few years, some parts of the course may change and adapt to up and coming and even not yet discovered technologies.

Besides, I look at the degree as your foot in the door somewhere, may not even be related to what you want now, but, if you never stop learning, you can go just about anywhere you want. I've been through lots of engineering fields mainly because of my "general" education.

This feels like a case of ... what's that French word for Deja Vu? ... anyway, It seems like we've had threads like this before.

I won't try to 'peel back the veil' of anonymity here (that would be rude), but I would suggest you do a search for 'Energy' in the Education or General Discussion sections (I'd recommend starting with Education, GD might give too many 'false hits' to wade through) and reading over the topics posted there. You might find most of the answers you need are already posted.

After reading most of what has been said here, I am going to be the devil you do not know:

(1)When I started college, I was thinking of becoming a medical doctor, pre-med all the way.

(2) I changed my mind to a pure science: Chemistry. I now hold an advanced degree in Physical Chemistry, but nevermind that, I did not become a physician (other than amateur gynecologist).

(3)I am happy as a chemist working in a power generating plant, but I also "dabble" with new energy sources, etc. in my spare time. If you find happiness, success will find you.

(4)Do not base your decision on how this or that program appears. Go to each one if at all possible as an exploratory mission, or at least speak with some of their faculty if you can, and see if there is a link being made with you. If you like where you go, then the program will be suitable.

(5)Work outside the University setting for one year, as an intern if you cannot gain regular employment. Much is learned in terms of common sense, and what takes place now in the "real world". Better to be a janitor in heaven, than the devil in hell. Many a great man started his career with great humility, and even greater perspiration. You could do worse than start out to be a miner, and end up as a Theoretical Physical Chemist. Or to start as a farm laborer, and end up as a physicist.

(6) Hard, mathematical science is the only key that will unlock the world of energy for you. Go where you will be comfortable in the pace of learning, with a depth that will not leave you lacking in the fundamentals as you go out into the "real world." Those of us who have struggled these many years ahead of you have perspired, strained, and even bled at times that you might be handed the keys to the kingdom. Do not squander your opportunity when it comes.

To become an energy engineer first step is to complete the basic requirements of curriculum to understand the principles of energy engineering. Basic degree in Mechanical or Electrical will lead to energy engineering specialization at post graduate level.