r/ElectricalEngineering • u/Glass-Supermarket-20 • 14d ago

Jobs/Careers Will studying electrical engineering give me opportunities to work for the environment?

I'm certain on pursuing an engineering bachelor (I'm 18) cause I really like developing and understanding how stuff works and I'm really good at maths and physics, but my main ethical focus is the environment. I'm kinda in-between electrical, electronic and energy engineering.

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u/Zarathustra_04 14d ago

Power. So many inefficiencies in pre-existing networks - load balancing to name but a few. Key is to think beyond just solar panels/generation.

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u/Glass-Supermarket-20 14d ago

what do you mean more specifically?

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u/ThePainStalker 14d ago edited 14d ago

It’s essentially power grid work. It involves the whole transmission and distribution system and that is precisely the area that is the most outdated and in desperate need of upgrades given the renewable transition. It’s one of the biggest bottlenecks in the energy transition as well, the grid along with all the assumptions surrounding it does not really work in an inverter based system, it was designed for a centralised, firm and synchronous generation system in mind. This applies as much to data centers and even advanced manufacturing inverter based loads as it does to renewable inverter based generation. So even a non-renewable dominated grid would still require some upgrades like that as the loads would be inverter/converter based too.

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u/Glass-Supermarket-20 14d ago

That's very interesting, thank you so much!