The hydrogen economy and jobs of the future

Abstract

Growth in the hydrogen and fuel cell industries will lead to vast new employment opportunities, and these will be created in a wide variety of industries, skills, tasks, and earnings. Many of these jobs do not currently exist and do not have occupational titles defined in official classifications. In addition, many of these jobs require different skills and education than current jobs, and training requirements must be assessed so that this rapidly growing part of the economy has a sufficient supply of trained and qualified workers. We discuss the current hydrogen economy and technologies. We then identify by occupational titles the new jobs that will be created in the expanding hydrogen/fuel cell economy, estimate the average US salary for each job, identify the minimum educational attainment required to gain entry into that occupation, and specify the recommended university degree for the advanced educational requirements. We provide recommendations for further research.

Italy's nutraceutical industry: a process and bioeconomy perspective into a key area of the global economy

“…Similar findings concern many of current rapidly emerging professional fields, requiring updated knowledge and skills in today's science and technology, including biotechnology for the bioeconomy, solar energy, energy management, and hydrogen energy …”

“…40 Similar findings concern many of current rapidly emerging professional fields, requiring updated knowledge and skills in today's science and technology, including biotechnology for the bioeconomy, 41 solar energy, 42 energy management, 43 and hydrogen energy. 44 The third main guideline of this study, therefore, is that filling this gap requires the development of short-term, practice-oriented courses through which graduates who are 'not prepared for the workplace' can acquire the knowledge and practice the skills necessary to excel in the numerous jobs in the nutraceutical industry.…”

Hydrogen Refueling Stations: Safety and Sustainability

“…Shaping a larger number of students with a background in science, technology and engineering with updated knowledge on solar hydrogen energy science and technology, including hydrogen safety and energy management, is an urgent societal need to provide society with the young professionals needed to locally guide the global transition to the solar economy. [34][35][36]…”

Renewable Energy Systems: Enhanced Resilience, Lower Costs

“…Bezdek, e.g., has lately identified 42 emerging occupations (from hydrogen plant operations manager to director of hydrogen energy development) in the hydrogen and fuel cell industries alone, calling for a rapid review of university and vocational programs so as to incorporate changes “in science and engineering education… to prepare students for hydrogen and fuel cell careers, to understand where opportunities lie and what additional curricula may be needed.”…”

“…[36] Bezdek, e.g., has lately identified 42 emerging occupations (from hydrogen plant operations manager to director of hydrogen energy development) in the hydrogen and fuel cell industries alone, calling for a rapid review of university and vocational programs so as to incorporate changes "in science and engineering education… to prepare students for hydrogen and fuel cell careers, to understand where opportunities lie and what additional curricula may be needed." [37] Third, learning from China's exceptional achievements in the field of the clean energy industry, [38] policymakers should promote public and private investments to establish new and crucially important solar cells, Li-ion batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and water electrolyser factories.…”