Introduction

At present and in the very near future, global economies will face enormous challenges to resolve the ever-growing need for ecologically friendly renewable energy resources. Replacement of conventional fossil fuels or nuclear energy resources by renewable energies will mandate industries, academia, and research institutions to provide immediate technological solutions to curb global environmental pollution. Global environmental pollution and green energy technology development are global and international issues that must be addressed by all nations.

In the coming decades, the renewable and sustainable energy industries will undergo unprecedented growth, which will represent a significant component of the global economy. To mitigate global environmental and atmospheric pollution and accelerate technological growth, it is imperative for international academia to keep pace with industry by educating career professionals to meet these challenges.

Present Status of International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies

Because the absence of a national policy on public education for renewable energy resources and for substantiation and promotion of sustainable energy technologies, and because of extensive global dependency on fossil fuel energy resources, institutions of higher learning have not had an opportunity to establish a roadmap toward development of a multidisciplinary curriculum to educate scientist and engineers who could specialize in Renewable Energy Systems Sciences to meet the present and immediate future of technology development challenges.

Since protection of the environment is a global issue, the establishment of a curriculum in renewable energy systems sciences should be undertaken by joint collaboration and partnership of national and international institutions of higher learning and industries. In the past couple of years, only few institutions of higher learning worldwide have developed formal curricula in sustainable energy studies, which lack fundamental pragmatic collaborative efforts to address the above mission.

Proposal for Establishment of International Interuniversity Forum on Renewable Energy System Studies

An international interuniversity academic forum should be established to chair the development and advancement of the mission. A concerted effort in forming an international coalition for the advancement of renewable energy system studies could establish a viable bridge between academia and the industry to promote cross-fertilization and exchange of novel ideas.

Promotion of partnership among academia and industry could also be extended to cooperative work-study programs that would give students the opportunity to acquire valuable hands-on experience in a wide variety of renewable energy technologies.