Sustainable Architects will be in high demand as cities and towns follow the demand to bring all properties up to the new standards set by LEED.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) an initiative designed by the U.S. Green Building Council sets forth the new guidelines for the implementation of “green” standards for construction companies.  Both new and old communities will follow the green trend in order to bring their properties up to the new standards set forth by the Council.

It is reported by the U.S. Green Building Council that the United States green building industry has a sales volume of more than $5 billion dollars in the last two years, and currently is approaching nearly $12 billion.

The job outlook in this area looks very promising.

As an environmental engineer, your technical expertise will help city planners comply with and adhere to federal regulatory practices.  You will work with environmental policy makers, technicians and electrical engineers and will assist them in the control of pollution from the local manufacturing plants

Your job outlook looks fairly rosy over the next decade, since according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics environmental engineers will be hired at a ten to twenty-five percent increase in the job market.

World-wide salaries in engineering have always been above average, but as the demand for “green” engineers grows, we should see salaries grow as well.

The opportunities in the engineering and environmental management fields of alternative and renewable energies are wide open — finally.  It has been slow going, but it appears that technicians and analysts along with engineers and management will finally find an acceptable career path when “going green.”  Environmental concerns are now world wide. Where apathy has reigned for years, there is a new awareness of the necessity for renewable energy to replace the old fuels that are destroying the planet.

Employment opportunities are increasing in a broad range of environmental fields, and even greater employment opportunity is fast approaching.  The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) indicates that today there are approximately 8.5 million jobs in the solar energy field alone.  In addition, builders and urban planners are needed to construct environmentally friendly homes and commercial sections of towns throughout the country.  Educators from middle schools who are teachers of earth science and college professors in environmental biology are preparing the new generation to repair the planet.  Once young men and women have reached the end of their education through the college level, the fields of environmental management, natural resources and forest preservation, and water conservation will be waiting for them.  In addition, organic and sustainable farming and landscape management offer a wide range of opportunity.

An advanced degree may be required for many in high level engineering work; however, if you have an environmental engineering degree, you will be able to find work with a bachelor’s degree.  What matters most is your basic education in the natural sciences in addition to the usual math and physics required of an engineer.

Following are some of the opportunities for you to “go green.”

Probably one of the greatest problems facing the “green” revolution is the need to convert the urban landscape from one of toxic air to an acceptable and healthy environment for the citizens.
Misuse and wastefulness of resources and neglect for the welfare of the inhabitants has produced an environment that is poisonous to the citizens of urban areas.  The entire urban landscape of the United States of America requires redesigning from not only an environmental but an ecological view.  Educated Urban Land Use Planners who are dedicated to rebuilding communities will be an essential part of the new “green” world.

Urban and Land Use Planners will require a university education and it appears that in the recent past many Urban Planning and Public Policy programs are adding sustainable design to their curriculum.  In addition to natural and social sciences, students will also be required to study engineering and architecture as additions to their “green Urban Planning field.”

Conservation biologists’ endeavors center on the restoration and protection of the various ecosystems of our planet.  They engage in environmental planning and management practices in order to help maintain the wildlife and natural resources of this earth.

Hydrologist

Hydrologists use their science and math educations to help improve water quality in natural bodies of water and help improve aquatic ecosystems.  They oversee and direct efforts in improving the quality of drinking water from our man-made reservoirs as well as improvement of water used for irrigation in farming.

Toxicologist

Toxicology is the study of the causes and effects of harmful toxins, and how to better protect mankind from exposure to environmental poisons. Toxicologists study to find the best possible avenues we can take to reduce or eliminate toxins from our environment.  Toxicology is the study of the effect of toxins in the products used every day around the world, in offices,  in household cleaners, in agriculture and in our drinking water.

Ecologist

This is the study of the relationship between our environment and all of mankind’s actions that affect it and it includes, overall, human interference in the natural world, industrialization and all man-made pollution as well as climate change and the weather.  The range of the Ecologist’s work is a wide one that includes  park and woodlands development (including forest protection) water and natural resource conservation, wildlife science and working with endangered species restoration.  The primary responsibility of Ecologists is environmental preservation and sustainability.