What does an energy engineer do?
An energy engineer is an individual who is involved with the production of energy using natural resources as well as renewable or sustainable sources of energy. Energy engineers are required to research new methods and techniques to extract energy from scarce natural resources. They must design and test machinery used in extracting energy and develop ways of improving the existing processes. Energy engineers are also required to have an excellent understanding of statutory and regulatory requirements about energy use and sustainability concerns.
Energy engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real energy engineer resumes:
- Manage DFMEA development activities and document closure of actions.
- Develop tools to automate equipment fault detection and energy analysis using data collect from commercial HVAC systems.
- Benchmark cost/consumption by store profile and climate zone.
- Track and report energy savings across the contracted company's portfolio.
- Execute temperature testing and EMI to meet regulatory requirement for CSA and UL.
- Insure all designs and installations conform to API, ANSI, and ASME.
- Enhance portfolio profits of other traders by teaching practical risk management skills to other traders.
- Lead engineering efforts in EPC execution of combine cycle, repower, and renewable projects.
- Support rapid FDA submissions and technical files by releasing prototype systems to perform clinical trials.
- Simulate building performance using eQuest for compliance to 90.1 and to determine ASHRAE baseline energy usage.
- Produce SolidWorks models and drawings for 3D printing (FDM and PolyJet) and injection molding.
- Ensure product compliance with safety and sanitation regulatory agencies, including UL, CSA, and NSF.
- Calculate values of crucial system parameters (temperatures, voltage, current) on MATLAB under specify solar flux input.
- Develop FDA documentation and quality systems.
- Assess integration of system with existing infrastructure.
Energy engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Energy Engineers are proficient in HVAC, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Writing skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Energy Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- HVAC, 12%
Perform energy calculations using spreadsheets and energy modeling software to determine energy savings associated with mechanical HVAC equipment and systems
- Renewable Energy, 5%
Studied renewable energy and sustainability focused engineering in a field and classroom environment performing many site visits and labs.
- Sustainability, 5%
Performed plant audits to implement advanced manufacturing, digital design, and sustainability.
- Project Development, 5%
Report to Senior Vice President David Holden Design Build Services Power Generation I provide engineering and business analysis for project development.
- Energy Efficiency, 5%
Assisted start-up tennis academy to maximize potential energy efficiency measures during refurbishment of an existing 30,000 square foot indoor tennis facility.
- Cost Estimates, 4%
Developed design concepts and other written documentation to management concerning recommendations including accurate descriptions, saving potential and cost estimates.
"hvac," "renewable energy," and "sustainability" are among the most common skills that energy engineers use at work. You can find even more energy engineer responsibilities below, including:
Speaking skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an energy engineer to have is speaking skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "industrial engineers sometimes have to explain their instructions to production staff or technicians before they can make written instructions available." Energy engineers often use speaking skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "developed and presented budgets for energy efficiency programs. "
Writing skills. Another essential skill to perform energy engineer duties is writing skills. Energy engineers responsibilities require that "industrial engineers must prepare documentation for other engineers or scientists, or for future reference." Energy engineers also use writing skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "performed commissioning of new buildings and retro-commissioning of existing buildings, energy assessments and writing technical reports for commercial facilities. "
Creativity. This is an important skill for energy engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how energy engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "industrial engineers use creativity and ingenuity to design new production processes in many kinds of settings in order to reduce the use of material resources, time, or labor while accomplishing the same goal." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an energy engineer: "achieved all material and equipment needs for the renewable energy projects including managing purchasing and controlling inventory. ".
Listening skills. For certain energy engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "listening skills." The day-to-day duties of an energy engineer rely on this skill, as "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what energy engineers do: "communicated and interacted with many engineers to design the experimental setup (doe) to validate the model. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in energy engineer job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what energy engineers do. Energy engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "industrial engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." You can also see how energy engineer duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "created 3d math data (model) and delivered to schedule including complete final math. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on energy engineer job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in energy engineer duties, since "in designing facilities for manufacturing and processes for providing services, these engineers deal with several issues at once, from workers’ safety to quality assurance." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day energy engineer responsibilities: "developed custom performance contracting solutions and program solutions tailored to each client based on their criteria. "
The three companies that hire the most energy engineers are:
- Siemens46 energy engineers jobs
- AECOM9 energy engineers jobs
- Honeywell8 energy engineers jobs
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Compare different energy engineers
Energy engineer vs. Electrical/mechanical designer
Renewable energy consultants carry out energy surveys and audits and advise clients on sources of renewable energy. They also advise on sustainable solutions within the built environment and infrastructure sectors. Their additional duties and responsibilities include analyzing data to calculate and compare current and historical use of energy. Generating reports that are understandable to the management and help in decision-making is also an important task of the job.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an energy engineer are more likely to require skills like "renewable energy," "sustainability," "project development," and "energy efficiency." On the other hand, a job as an electrical/mechanical designer requires skills like "assembly drawings," "cad," "panel layouts," and "solidworks." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, electrical/mechanical designers reach lower levels of education than energy engineers. Electrical/mechanical designers are 17.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Energy engineer vs. Distributed generation project manager
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, energy engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "hvac," "renewable energy," "sustainability," and "project development." Meanwhile, a distributed generation project manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "project scope," "generation business," "process improvement," and "audit support." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, distributed generation project managers achieve higher levels of education than energy engineers. They're 10.2% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Energy engineer vs. Renewable energy consultant
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an energy engineer is likely to be skilled in "sustainability," "project development," "energy efficiency," and "cost estimates," while a typical renewable energy consultant is skilled in "financial models," "lead generation," "electric vehicle," and "regulatory filings."
Renewable energy consultants typically earn similar educational levels compared to energy engineers. Specifically, they're 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Energy engineer vs. Electric engine mechanic
Types of energy engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
