The next big wave in Mechnical engineering?

[PlatinumZealot]

What is the next big wave in mechanical engineering?

How can a young engineer or a student position himself to ride this nascent Tsunami and rake in all the fame and fortunes in say 10 years time when this technology/area is mature?

[Caito]

nano-something?

[tok-tokkie]

There is going to be a lot of development in non-carbon energy sources. The sun is the root source of nearly all energy (exclude nuclear & geothermal but the rest is energy captured from the sun in one way or another). Photo electric is not really mechanical engineering. Solar thermal scaled at community size is what I would look at. How to store the energy economically and reliably is a real intrigue.

[andrew]

The renewable energy sector is still in it's infancy, particularly wave power.