Traditional power electronics technology will gain huge development space. Since last year, the enrollment scale of the power supply direction, which is not very popular in the electronics department, has also expanded accordingly. The current development direction is: on the one hand, to reduce emissions by improving power conversion efficiency; On the other hand, electric vehicles will be further developed, especially the design, testing and manufacturing of motors and controllers for new energy vehicles. The U.S. government, the China government, Japan and Western Europe have all invested a lot of money. Virginia Tech, Ohio State University, university of central florida and Madison University in Wisconsin are the most powerful universities in the United States, and Arizona State University and Northeastern University also have good scientific research strength.
2. Low Carbon-Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department
Chemical industry is a special industry, and energy conservation and environmental protection are the core issues of chemical enterprises. At present, the Copenhagen conference has made a positive commitment to carbon emission reduction. Chemical industry is closely related to carbon emissions and is one of the core industries of low-carbon economy. For example, the development of fluorination technology and reducing the carbon content in fuel oil are very potential methods to reduce the pollution of traditional energy sources.
Many schools in Texas in the United States have strong chemistry departments, and there are many multinational oil companies and chemical companies in the local area, which have very good employment prospects. (For example, the comprehensive ranking of Texas Tech University is not too high, and the strength of the Department of Chemical Engineering should not be underestimated)
3. New energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy-Department of Electronics, Department of Materials and Department of Physics.
Although solar energy has been put into use in our daily life, it cannot be popularized on a large scale because of its low conversion efficiency and high price. Therefore, further research on solar energy has also received more research funds. Among them, photoelectric materials and electronic photoacoustic photovoltaic are one of the research fields. Take Tufts University as an example, the Department of Electronics has introduced new professors in this field. Students majoring in solar energy are doing well, especially in the solar-rich areas in the midwest of the United States. For example, New Mexico and Arizona have large solar energy research centers. In the northern United States, such as Boston, there are also many companies engaged in solar energy development. There are solar energy research centers in Delaray University, Arizona State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University and other universities.
Europe (especially Germany), Israel and Japan have received strong support from the government in solar energy development, so their strength is also very strong. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado is the first solar energy research center in the United States.
Wind power generation is also a major development trend. Among them, the University of North Carolina is the strongest. Germany and Denmark are in the forefront of wind power generation technology in the world.
4. Fuel Cell-Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Materials and Department of Environment
Fuel cell is obviously the research hotspot at present. At the annual meetings of american physical society, Chemical Society and Materials Society, the research progress of fuel cells can be seen everywhere. After Copenhagen, technological innovation and industrialization in this field will be strengthened.
The National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC) at the University of California, Irvine is the most famous fuel cell research center in the United States. The Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center of the University of Connecticut also has abundant funds and scientific research. In addition, Kettering University in Michigan, case western reserve university in Ohio, Stark State College and the Fuel Cell Research Center of the University of South Carolina. This research center of the University of South Carolina is the only fuel cell research center funded by the National Natural Fund of the United States.
In addition to the United States, fuel cell technology in Canada, Germany, Japan and Britain has also developed rapidly. For example, Imperial College London, Birmingham University, Nottingham University, Oxford University, Stuttgart University, Ruhr University-Bochum, university of duisburg-essen, Miyazaki University, Yamanashi, Nakagawa College, McMaster University in Canada, Royal Canadian Military Academy and Victoria University in Waterloo, Canada. Honda in Japan and Audi in Germany have their own fuel cell research and development departments.
5. Smart grid-electronic department (electric power, communication, control technology, system engineering) and computer department.
After Obama took office, he put forward a new energy plan, which will focus on upgrading the power grid system that spends $654.38+02 billion a year on circuit loss and fault maintenance, and establish a unified power grid across four time zones in the United States; Develop smart grid industry, maximize the value and efficiency of American national grid, and gradually realize the unified management of solar energy, wind energy and geothermal energy in the United States; Comprehensively promote distributed energy management and create the highest energy efficiency in the world.
The US government promotes smart grid for three purposes. One is that the equipment of American power grid is relatively backward, and it is urgent to improve the reliability of power grid operation. The second is to pull the United States out of the quagmire of financial crisis through the construction of smart grid; The third is to improve energy efficiency. The U.S. government should establish a new energy system based on information, and integrate production, storage, transportation, conversion (power generation), transmission, distribution, power supply and use, as well as all kinds of power and energy-using equipment to realize informationization, networking and intelligence, so as to solve the optimal balance among all kinds of energy resources, power conversion and energy demand, and thus improve the utilization efficiency of energy resources and energy equipment.
The development of smart grid needs cross-cooperation in many fields:
Communication: Establishing a high-speed, two-way, real-time and integrated communication system is the foundation of smart grid, because the data acquisition, protection and control of smart grid need the support of such communication system.
Materials and superconductivity: The equipment in smart grid will make full use of the latest research results in materials and superconductivity, thus improving power density, power supply reliability and power control technology.
Control technology: it provides control means for transmission, distribution and user side, and can manage the active and reactive power of the whole power grid.
American universities in this field mainly include: North Carolina State University (the most abundant), Washington University, Arizona State University, Texas A & amp； M, Cornell University, University of Iowa, Georgia Institute of Technology, etc. Some schools in Canada also have strong scientific research strength. For example, the University of Toronto.
6. Microbial fuel cells-Department of Biology
The extraction of electric energy from organisms/microorganisms was discovered in the early 20th century, and the research article was published in the 1970s. Due to the energy crisis, the research of MFC is getting hotter and hotter. What has done better in this respect is a research team in Belgium, whose battery power is the highest at present. Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Lovely of the University of Massachusetts Amherst are the most famous. In addition, Michigan State University, Arizona State University and University of Maryland also have related research centers. The microbial fuel cell research groups of Newcastle University in the UK and Queensland University in Australia are also very strong in this field.
7. Traditional petroleum industry:
In the short term, the development of new energy cannot meet the needs of economic development, so the traditional oil industry will continue to maintain its original strength. The focus of future development is on new methods of efficient mining and utilization. By improving the process, the quality of crude oil and refined oil can be improved, clean petroleum products can be provided for the society, and carbon dioxide emissions during the use of refined oil can be reduced.
Powerful American universities include the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University, Texas A & amp； M University, Tulsa University, Colorado University of Mining and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Oklahoma University, Louisiana State University, University of Southern California, Texas Tech University. In particular, universities in Texas have geographical advantages, and almost all enterprises in the oil industry have factories in Texas. The employment prospects are good. Alberto University is also very strong.
There are no special requirements for the admission of new energy-related majors. Energy major is only an extension of related traditional majors, so the admission requirements are basically the same as those of traditional majors.