Shaping the Clean Energy Workforce of the Future

As regulatory, societal and economic incentives to decarbonize and optimize our energy future continue to grow, we’ll need an expanded workforce that can help navigate the energy transition. Adaptation to a lower-carbon future requires the creative visions and enthusiastic voices of the next generation to build a landscape that is equitable and sustainable for all. 

Blueprint Power is committed to helping develop that workforce, and a few of our team members recently visited Lower Manhattan Community Middle School in New York City, spending time with the next generation of STEM-interested students. Simulation Engineer Megan Lytle, Market Operations Analyst Claudia Yanez, and Energy Analyst Sanjana Jagannathan visited 6th-grade students currently studying kinetic and potential energy. There, they shared the inspirations and influences on their own journeys into the energy industry. 

Blueprint team members share their inspirations with 6th grade students at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School.

The Blueprint Power team members discussed their specific roles and day-to-day activities, including modeling and optimizing energy assets, managing real-time communications with the electrical grid, and running simulations for future energy projects. All three Blueprint Power team members came to the energy industry out of a desire to make a positive impact on the world, driven by a love of nature and science. Sharing that passion and vision for the future is a critical step toward fostering that same sentiment in the next generation workforce.

The students were then issued a specific challenge: design a device for rescue workers to transform their body movement into energy that can then be stored in a battery. The students worked in small groups to design their energy capture and storage devices and presented their prototypes to the class. 

Sixth grade science students show off their energy capture and storage designs.

The Blueprint Power team was tremendously impressed with the ingenuity shown by these young minds. The students were able to answer questions about their unique designs and got a small taste of what it’s like to be part of an engineering team working on energy solutions. After working with these 6th-grade science students, we know one thing for sure: the future is bright. 

Middle school students brainstorm innovative ideas for transforming movement into energy that can be stored in batteries.