America’s energy crisis could be worsened by  a looming education crisis.   The DOE, as well as AEL, have expressed concern in the past over a lack of education and work force training in energy related fields.  Today, Kristina Johnson, the Under Secretary for Energy, wrote on this subject as well as the DOE’s Energy Education and Workforce Development Request for Information (RFI),

“Reports like this one from the nonprofit Center for Energy Workforce Development are a cause for concern, as they warn that 40% – 60% of the current energy utility workforce could be eligible to retire by 2012. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory cautions that a shortage of training and skills is ‘a leading barrier to renewable energy and energy-efficiency growth.’”

The goal of the RFI is to gather data through September 3, 2010 to get a better sense of the “status, prevalence, quality, and gaps in education and workforce development relevant to energy technologies.”  The results will likely highlight what has become an astonishing truth, America is not preparing its students for one of the largest growth industries of the future.  This reality is well documented, just this year a report by the National Science Board pointed out that, “the United States has fallen from one of the top countries in terms of its ratio of natural science and engineering degrees to the college-age population to near the bottom of the 23 countries for which data are available.”

The emerging workforce and STEM education gaps, if not addressed, will jeopardize America’s ability to compete in a clean-energy economy. That is why earlier this year AEL strongly supported RE-ENERGYSE, a proposal to increase federal funding for education in clean-energy related fields by $74 million for universities, community and technical colleges, and K-12 schools.  It is also why 107 student body presidents signed a letter asking congress to pass the legislation.  Unfortunately RE-ENERGYSE was not passed and problem has not gone away, but is good to see the DOE continuing to lead the charge for an educated clean-energy workforce.

Since the collapse of climate legislation, advocates have issued a number of post-mortems and ideas for moving forward.  One of the leading commentators on this front is Andrew Revkin — the lead New York Times environment reporter from 1995 through 2009 — and today at NYT Dot Earth he defined what he calls “The Technology Imperative for Energy and Climate“:

“If you care about fostering prosperity in poor places while limiting the buildup of greenhouse gases in the globe’s shared atmosphere, it’s time to recognize the technology imperative that lies behind the world’s entwined climate and energy challenges… Without greatly intensified work to advance and disseminate energy choices that don’t come with heat-trapping emissions, there’s no smooth path as human populations and appetites crest in the next two generations.”

As an example of what the next agenda might look like, Revkin republishes our op-ed from last week at the National Journal Energy Expert Blog.  In the article, we argued that the United States must quickly pivot from pollution regulation to an aggressive clean energy competitiveness and innovation agenda, including robust and targeted federal support for clean energy research and innovation, manufacturing, and domestic market demand, as well as infrastructure, education, and industry cluster formation.

This builds on the ongoing leadership of groups like Breakthrough Institute, Brookings Metro Policy Center, ITIF, Third Way, American Energy Innovation Council, Bipartisan Policy Center, and others who are helping define a new and robust energy and climate agenda.  We encourage you to follow their work in the months ahead, as well as Andrew Revkin’s commentary at Dot Earth.

Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that 150 students have been chosen to receive graduate fellowship awards for the Department of Energy Graduate Fellowship program.  The award includes tuition, living expenses, and research support for three years:

“The exceptionally talented students selected as graduate fellows are part of our nation’s next generation of scientific and technical leaders,” said Secretary Chu. “This investment in the training of scientists and engineers is part of the Administration’s continued effort to ensure that America has the scientific and engineering workforce we need to secure our energy future and our continued economic competitiveness.”

The goal of the fellowship program is to encourage students to pursue graduate degrees in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering, and environmental and computer sciences—fields that will prepare students for careers that can make significant contributions in discovery-driven science and science for national needs in energy and the environment.

The goal of the program is to strengthen the nation’s scientific workforce, which is currently at serious risk, especially in the energy sector.  The National Science Board reports that science and engineering make up only about one-third of U.S. bachelor’s degrees, compared to 63 percent in Japan, 53 percent in China, and 51 percent in Singapore.  This step to address the problem was made possible by $12.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.