More U.S. college students studying clean energy

By Leonard Anderson

BERKELEY, Calif (Reuters) - Concern over global warming has more U.S. college students looking into careers in alternative energy, leading U.S. universities to add new courses on clean energy technologies and the environment.

"Students see an opportunity for challenging jobs and a way to do some good for the planet," Dan Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said.

The number of Berkeley undergraduates enrolled in introductory energy courses has almost tripled and a new graduate class in solar photovoltaics signed up 70 students, the largest course in recent memory at UC's College of Engineering.

"Over the last two years, demand for energy courses is off the charts here," Kammen said.

Venture capital cash is fueling new companies and jobs developing alternative energies like nanotech solar cells and biofuels generated by enzymes and termites. Venture capital for energy and environmental technology in several regions of the world in 2006 nearly doubled from a year earlier to $1.28 billion.

At Stanford University in Silicon Valley, the Petroleum Engineering Department has renamed itself the Energy Resources Engineering Department. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has offered courses in green architecture and sustainable development.

Other U.S. schools targeting green technologies and eco-friendly programs include Middlebury College, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Illinois State University, and the University of California at Davis.

Berkeley and Stanford had to turn away attendees from renewable energy symposiums organized by students.