• Question: What normally does an energy engineer do

    Asked by 762enek22 to Shane, Stephen on 7 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by 464enek22.
    • Photo: Stephen Rhatigan

      Stephen Rhatigan answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      Energy engineers work on the research, design and use of new energy systems. This can involve the development of a new technology or a system which makes better, more efficient use of an existing technology.
      For example, I work on the research side. I use computer simulations to develop materials which can convert sunlight to fuel.
      If I find a nice material, I will tell colleagues about it and they will make it and test it in experiments.
      If the new material passes the tests it will go to the next stage which involves designing a device which can be used in practical situations.
      Finally, someone must decide the best way to use the new device. How can the device fit in with the existing technology? Where is it needed most? Where will it work best?
      Each step along the way involves the work and cooperation of a lot of energy scientists and engineers (and other professions too).

    • Photo: Shane Mcdonagh

      Shane Mcdonagh answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      Energy is such a big and varied topic that 100 energy engineers might never have done the same thing as one another in their daily work.

      Those who work on buildings think about news of heating, cooling, powering them or redesigning them so that they use less energy than before. So a typical day for them might be calculating how much of each type of energy is being used and where. Then going off to research a solution, and how they can make that work.

      A solar energy engineer might work out where the best place to put solar panels is after they work out where the sun shines the most, how many wires they would need, if they would be able get trucks with all the equipment to the site.

      Usually all these things would be part of bigger projects that take a long time but the work of energy engineers includes a lot really different tasks.

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