Energy and climate protection are important issues for Tobias Schulze. He wants to make them his career. The 22-year-old is in his second year at the Giessen University of Applied Sciences studying energy systems technology. He is enthusiastic about his practice-oriented course. In the tutorials and lectures he is learning all about energy conversion, power generation, technical infrastructure, CO2 emissions from power stations and even vehicle technology – a wide range of subjects, but he can specialize in one of them at any time. Tobias is in his element at university. “I want to understand things and see how they work.” And the more he understands, the more he will be able to put into practice in his future career – either as a result of new research findings or new processes in the field of renewable energies.He is part of a major trend. A recent study carried out by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants has shown that energy and ecology-related occupations are becoming Germany’s number-one job engine. “By 2020, this sector will be employing more people than mechanical engineering or the automotive industry,” says Torsten Henzelmann of Roland Berger. He talks about “the boom sector of the 21st century”. On behalf of the Federal Government, the consultants interviewed almost 1,500 German environmental technology companies and evaluated a number of other studies in order to compile an eco-atlas of Germany that will be officially published at the European Union’s environmental summit in June.
The renewable energies industry is the pacemaker among the new job creators. Companies’ order books are full, boosted by the Federal Government’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020. This year, the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) expects turnover to grow by 17% compared to 2006 to a grand total of 32 billion euros. At the same time, 15,000 new jobs are planned in Germany this year. According to the BEE, approximately 214,000 people were already employed in the industry in 2006. A study conducted by the Federal Ministry for the Environment projects that 150,000 new jobs will be created by 2020. The background is that German companies are already market leaders and are now benefiting from the increasing global demand for clean and innovative energy technologies.
In the environment industry there is increasing demand mainly for technical and scientific specialists, such as engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists, physicists and project developers. However, the industry also needs training opportunities, which is why Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Minister for the Environment, launched a training initiative called “Umwelt schafft Perspektiven” (The Environment Creates Prospects) in 2006. It has also been a success: companies and employers’ associations have already promised 5,100 new training places. Universities and colleges in Germany have already adjusted to this development in the field of renewable energies. Many of them now offer special programmes or options in this area within their courses. For example, degree courses in mechanical engineering often allow students to concentrate or specialize on fields such as renewable-energy and materials technology, energy supply and renewable energies for power generation. Similarly, traditional courses in electrical engineering and information technology now frequently offer specializations in renewable energies and electrical energy systems. Universities and colleges offer further subdivisions such as technical building services, energy plant technology, power engineering, environmental technology and wind energy technology. In addition, there are numerous further training courses on offer, for example as a solar or energy consultant. The degree courses are modular in structure and usually last seven semesters. They are very practice-oriented – practical work experience within a company is usually part of the main study programme.
What kind of people are attracted by the energy professions? Oliver Freitag, for example, who has turned his environmentalist ideals into a well-paid job. Today, he is head of the Fuel Cell division at Smart Fuel Cell (SFC), the market leader in mobile and stand-alone power-supply systems based on fuel-cell technology. Ten years ago his professor warned him against writing his thesis on solar chemistry. “You’ll never get a job,” he believed at the time. Today, Oliver Freitag works on fuel cells for the leisure industry, for example in mobile homes, vacation cottages and sailing boats. “This will be a big market in the future,” enthuses the 36-year-old engineer. The technology transforms liquid energy sources into electricity and is 30 to 50 times more effective than batteries. What is more it is clean and quiet. Other exciting markets are already waiting in the wings. Electric vehicles, sensors of all kinds, security technology, pipelines, weather stations. Freitag has realized that idealism is not enough, and that it is important for projects to be economically viable. He has now found this balance in his job.
Thomas Schilling had actually wanted to study physics, but in the end he felt it was too specialized. So he studied architecture in Munich. It was a good decision, because he now realizes that interdisciplinary qualifications are better received than pure specializations. As a result, he has expanded his technical know-how and learned a great deal about energy optimization and thermodynamics. As an architect he pursues a holistic approach anyway: “Planning a house is an integrated mental exercise.” On the idyllic Wörthersee lake in Upper Bavaria he has just built a wooden house that is heated with wood pellets and solar energy. His knowledge of architecture also stood the 38-year-old in good stead in his work as a self-employed energy consultant. Since 2002, he has been calculating the energy efficiency of houses and forecasting their reconstruction requirements in his Munich office.
Deborah Hoheisel would like to make sure that nature reserves and areas of wilderness stay just as they are – without interference from human beings. For this reason, and because she was already interested in the environment as a child, she studied environmental planning at the Technical University in Munich. The 24-year-old’s training is varied, ranging from basic scientific principles to countryside management and public relations. She likes the informal atmosphere in her department and praises the good relations with the professors. She already has her bachelor’s degree in her pocket, and now she is staying on to take her master’s. Just like Julie Gassmann – she took her bachelor’s degree in England, but preferred to take her master’s in environmental planning and ecological engineering in her home country. “Germany has a stronger tradition in the ecological fields,” the 23-year-old explains – even though she will be on campus for six months longer. She says she needs the time to discover her “real interests”. Would she prefer to go into hands-on nature conservation, or would she rather do research? She doesn’t know for sure yet. But she has time. After all, there is no end in sight to the boom in environmental careers.
© Deutschland magazine
