There is no niche for that where I work. It is typically part of the electrical work, but I am sure there must be some specialists out there somewhere.

Just make sure you move to Florida, I think the Tampa Bay area is still considered the lightning capitol of the world.  

We get some nice storms either way.

Most of the manufacturers of the material for lightining protetion systems offer design services.  A PE isn't required a UL Masters license is required to design they system  The requirement for a system is ususally didctated by the insurance carrier.
Google up Harger and Thompson.  These are two of th companies I have dealt with.  It's not worth me learning how to do it.  A phone call and money gets the whole job done.  Wheather or not it really protects against lightning damage is debatabel, but the insurance company is usually happy.

http://www.esdjournal.com/ Site with information on static and lightning fires. And a site for overvoltage protection consultant/attorney, www.rbs2.com, who specializes in lightning and surge power problems.

Any technical novelty is good, possibly develop a product: protective relay, marine fire protection, etc. Good luck.

Singapore has an average of something like 220 lightning days a year.  Every building has lightning protection by code.  This is a normal part of an electrical engineers scope there.  

Copper strips run around the perimeter & ridges of the roof and are grounded with regulated resistance and joining techniques.  
Florida could surely learn from singapore's experience and there might be a market for these methods there.

Incidentally, there used to be 100's of people killed every year from lightning strikes, but the gov't ran a public education campaign telling the good people to get out of their swimming pools when lightning threatens, and the death rate dropped to onesey twoseys!  Sometimes you have to be told ay?
  

How is the lightning protection business?

Shocking

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

I stand corrected, apparently West Africa gets the most lightning, something like 280 storm days per year. (no offense to Singapore who still beats us)

Also I heard it was the almight Ben Franklin who invented the first lightning rod.  Interesting bits though, the most obvious place to put the first rods was the highest building around, the church.  However some churchgoers initially thought that it was defying God's will to resist the lightning strikes, but apparently it was ok that they stay dry from the rain?

Also early lightning rods also incorporated glass balls which would shatter and fall off when struck, so you knew the rod was working.  I think that's an important design consideration, people want to know that their stuff is working and shattering glass is much more dramatic than just "not getting killed by lightning".    

Of course, glass shards in your bare feet or stuck in your head aren't exactly a great reminder ;)

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com