Researching alternative sources of energy would certainly be a rewarding career. I'm a bit surprised to hear nobody's doing it, I'd think there'd be companies trying to commercialize on the pretty massive progress we've seen in PV efficiency at the lab scale. I remember in my undergrad people were really excited about roll-to-roll manufacturing for flexible organic perovskite solar cells, but come to think of it I haven't heard much about them in the last five years. I wonder what happened. Maybe just still to expensive to compete commercially with silicon PV?

Regardless, I hope you find a direction that's fulfilling for you!

True. It could still have benefits from a vegetarian or conservation perspective, though.

Have you thought about trying to get into genetically modified plant crops, then?