Colleges and Universities
Here you'll find resources on higher education opportunities in energy, particularly those concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy. This list is a work in progress and is not intended to be all-inclusive or to assure individual program quality. You can also search for university programs in your state at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council's website.
Alternative Energy Institute
The Alternative Energy Institute was formed in 1977 at West Texas A&M University as an outgrowth of wind energy research begun in 1970. The institute's primary emphasis is wind energy, though certain research and education are also on solar energy.
American School Search
This online resource lists more than 6,600 colleges across the U.S., including those with programs in environmental sciences and conservation. American School Search evaluates the colleges using a standardized system of measurement with unique factors and criteria collected from public data sources released by the U.S. Department of Education.
Bismarck State College
Bismarck State College is home to the National Energy Center of Excellence and has offered energy technology education programs on campus since 1976 and online for more than a decade. The Center has broad-based training in six different sectors of the energy industry: generation, transmission, distribution, process technology, system operations and energy management.
Boston University: Center for Energy and Environmental Studies
This Center within Boston University offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in energy and environmental studies.
College of Energy, Environment and Sustainability
CEES is an education initiative of Bridging Nations, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based organization, and was formed with a vision to provide education in the field of energy efficiency, environment and sustainability. CEES offers courses in the technology, economics, and policy of renewable energy, green building, and more.
Delft University: Wind Energy Research Institute (The Netherlands)
Delft University Wind Energy Research Institute in the Netherlands offers a research program that covers modern wind turbine technology.
Ecotech Institute
Ecotech Institute focuses on preparing graduates for careers in the rapidly growing fields of renewable energy, sustainable design, and energy efficiency. Based in Denver, Colorado, Ecotech Institute provides practical, hands-on training designed to meet the growing demands of employers in the green economy.
Everblue Training Institute
Everblue is a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) education portfolio provider specializing in providing green jobs training for federal, state and local governments, contractors, owners, operators, architects, and engineers. Their curriculum, available for licensing, includes LEED accreditation, BPI certification, a RESNET HERS Rater course, and solar and wind training.
Getting the Most From Your Bachelor's Degree in an Uncertain Climate
This research project produced the Online Bachelor Degree Programs site, an online informational resource for individuals looking to pursue bachelor degree-related education and careers. The project covers various topics like what you can do with a bachelor degree, links to related resources, and information about this specific field within the job market.
Humboldt State University: Environmental Resources Engineering
The university offers a variety of courses and degrees on designing, installing, and operating technologies that use our energy resources in a sustainable manner.
Interstate Renewable Energy Council—Renewable Energy University Directory
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council tracks educational institutions that are accredited through ISPQ international standards to offer solar installer training and other skills supporting careers in photovoltaic energy. Institutions are updated quarterly. IREC lists both certification training and university courses that meet clean energy accreditation standards. This directory includes information on four-year universities offering undergraduate and graduate courses in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
John Brown University: Department of Renewable Energy
The Renewable Energy Department of John Brown University offers a Bachelor of Science in renewable energy as well as individual coursework to prepare students for both technical and management positions in the renewable energy field.
Keilir—Atlantic Center of Excellence
The School of Energy and Technology at Keilir offers bachelor of science programs in mechatronics and green energy technologies. The program in green energy technology has a strong focus on geothermal energy technology, capitalizing on the extensive expertise of leading Icelandic energy companies in this field. The program is offered in cooperation with the University of Iceland and a number of leading energy companies in Iceland.
Linn State Technical College
Learn more about the associate of applied science degree programs that provide curriculum in the area of green technology, such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technology, graduating students ready to work in industries that are going green.
Marylhurst University: Renewable Energy MBA
Students in this green business program learn traditional business techniques including management and leadership principles, organizational protocols, communication, marketing, finance, business strategy, ethics, and decision-making.
Michigan State University: Biological Systems Engineering
Michigan State University offers an ABET-accredited degree in biological systems engineering with a specialization in renewable bioenergy systems. See the required coursework.
My College Options
My College Options is a free college planning service, offering assistance to students, parents, high schools, counselors, and teachers nationwide. It is designed to assist high school students in exploring a wide range of post-secondary opportunities, with special emphasis on the college search process.
North Carolina Solar Center
Operated by the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, the North Carolina Solar Center began in 1981 with the creation of a solar house to research and demonstrate the benefits of passive solar, solar water heating, and solar electricity. The center covers renewable energy areas including solar, wind, and biomass.
Oklahoma State University: Buildings and Thermal Systems Research Group
Within Oklahoma State, the Building and Environmental Thermal Systems Research Group conducts research on building heat transfer, HVAC systems modeling, building energy simulation, hydronic heating systems, and geothermal heat pump systems and supports students seeking graduate degrees in mechanical engineering.
Oregon Institute of Technology
In 2005, Oregon Institute of Technology introduced the first Bachelor of Science degree in renewable energy in North America. Oregon Tech's renewable energy engineering program, offered at both its Portland and Klamath Falls campuses, establishes the engineering principles graduates will need to develop, promote, and implement sustainable energy technologies
REYST—Reykjavik Energy Graduate School of Sustainable Systems
REYST, in Iceland, offers an international MSc program focusing on utilization of sustainable energy resources.
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey: Certificate in Energy Studies Program
The Certificate in Energy Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program designed to educate students in problems associated with energy usage and to pose methods for possible solutions to those problems.
Saint Francis University Renewable Energy Center
Saint Francis University offers an undergraduate environmental engineering degree with a concentration in renewable energy; an MBA with a focus on renewable energy; and an online graduate-level renewable energy business certificate that focuses on the business and policy knowledge necessary to advance in this field.
San Juan College: Renewable Energy Program
The Renewable Energy Program gives students a solid foundation in the fundamental physics and design/installation techniques required to work with renewable technologies.
School for Renewable Energy Science in Iceland
RES offers an interdisciplinary, research-oriented, one-year graduate (M.Sc.) program in renewable energy science. In 2010, the school will offer five specializations of study: geothermal energy, fuel cell systems and hydrogen, biofuels and bioenergy, energy systems, and hydropower.
Sonoma State University: Energy Management and Design
Sonoma State University offers a program in the Department of Environmental Studies and Planning that prepares students for professional careers in the energy field.
Southern Methodist University
The university offers courses and degree programs in geophysics, geochemistry, geothermal energy and other related topics.
Stanford University: Geothermal Program
The Stanford Geothermal Program includes courses in geothermal as well as research topics specific to geothermal reservoir engineering.
Sweden Royal Institute of Technology: Sustainable Energy Engineering
The Sweden Royal Institute of Technology offers a Master of Science degree program in sustainable energy engineering with two parallel study majors: Sustainable Power Generation and Sustainable Energy Utilization in the Built Environment.
Texas Tech University: Wind Science and Engineering Research Center
Texas Tech offers a bachelor of science in wind energy, as well as a variety of undergraduate courses for a minor or a certificate in wind energy. The university has two types of graduate level certificate programs in wind energy – a Technical Track designed for professionals working in the technical aspects of the industry such as engineering, manufacturing, or design, and a Managerial Track designed for professionals working in managerial or supervisory positions.
The Oregon Institute of Technology: Renewable Energy Engineering
Learn more here about the Oregon Institute of Technology's degress in renewable energy engineering.
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona's College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture offers a Bachelor of Science in Sustainability Built Environments -- a 4-year, 120-credit, interdisciplinary undergraduate degree that educates students in the comprehensive understanding of sustainability principles and prepares them with the skills to make our communities, buildings and landscapes more sustainable.
University of California—Berkeley: Energy and Resources Group
This program at the University of California at Berkeley offers graduate degree programs in energy and resources.
University of California—Davis: Energy Efficiency Center
Find information on energy efficiency course offerings at the Energy Efficiency Center.
University of California—Riverside: Department of Earth Sciences
The Department of Earth Sciences offers three undergraduate degree programs: Bachelor of Science degrees in geology and geophysics, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in geoscience education.
University of Delaware: Graduate Seminar on Offshore Wind Power
University of Delaware offers a graduate seminar on offshore wind power at its College of Marine and Earth Studies.
University of Delaware: Institute of Energy Conversion
University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion prepares students in how to interact effectively with engineers and scientists engaged in long-term research programs in photovoltaics.
University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a B.S. degree in Earth, Society, and Environment; B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Natural Resources; a Professional Science Master's in Bioenergy; a certificate in Energy Systems; a graduate option in Energy and Sustainability Engineering; and a graduate program in Environmental and Resource Economics.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The Department of Environmental Conservation offers graduate programs in the building systems concentration with a green building specialization at both the M.S. and Ph.D. level.
University of Minnesota: Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment
IREE mobilizes more than 430 experts at the University of Minnesota and awards renewable energy grants in excess of $25 million around a mission "to promote statewide economic development; sustainable, healthy and diverse ecosystems; and national energy security through development of bio-based and other renewable resources and processes."
University of Montana: Energy Technology
Find out more about the University of Montana's College of Technology Associate of Applied Science degree in Energy Technology.
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada offers an interdisciplinary minor program in renewable energy.
University of New South Wales: Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering
The University of New South Wales offers undergraduate training in the area of photovoltaics and solar energy, as well as postgraduate and research training opportunities.
University of Ulster
Based in Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster offers an e-learning PgCert/PgDip/MSc degree program in Hydrogen Safety Engineering. It is world's first higher educational program that enables graduates to specialize in this new and rapidly advancing field.
Vermont Law School
Vermont Law School offers the following programs in energy and law.
The Vermont Law School offers a variety of programs for students interested in energy and law. The Master of Energy Regulation and Law degree program (MERL) focuses on law and policy governing energy use, production, and transmission. The LLM in Energy Law degree program is designed for students who have already earned a law degree and wish to pursue intensive study and training in the field of energy law. Students in Vermont Law School's JD program can choose to specialize in Energy in two ways by completing a Certificate in Energy Law or a Joint JD and Masters in Energy Regulation and Law. The Joint JD/MERL track provides students in three years with a law degree and through the master's a breath of knowledge and practical training in public advocacy, writing for a legal policy audience, and externships at organizations around the country and the world.
Virginia Tech: Center for Energy & the Global Environment
This Center offers an online course in alternative energy systems, which includes photovoltaics.