Energy Auditors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 61% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 64% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 36% of the time, stays with people.
Conduct energy audits of buildings, building systems, or process systems. May also conduct investment grade audits of buildings or systems.
$74,690 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on24 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet2 h
- Stays with people14 h
Energy Auditors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 24 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 2 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 14 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare audit reports containing energy analysis results or recommendations for energy cost savings (about 7 h); Identify opportunities to improve the operation, maintenance, or energy efficiency of building or process systems (about 3 h); Analyze technical feasibility of energy-saving measures, using knowledge of engineering, energy production, energy use, construction, maintenance, system operation, or process systems (about 2 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 64%
- 0%
- 36%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 26%. Today's estimate: 61%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 21 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.014% to 0.0043% (released February and March 2025); 0.0086% to 0.01% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.014% | 493 of 708 | 3 of 21 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0043% | 596 of 703 | 2 of 21 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0086% | 471 of 655 | 4 of 21 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0098% | 480 of 672 | 4 of 21 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.01% | 495 of 677 | 3 of 21 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 21 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 21 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 39% of this job's working time as physical work. For 4% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 4% in a purpose-built cell. 0.04 of 3, the 592nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 61%
- No robot shown 34%
- In a purpose-built cell 4%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare audit reports containing energy analysis results or recommendations for energy cost savings.Done daily by most who do it. | 20% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 1.7 work days | 84%Half by now | |
| Collect and analyze field data related to energy usage.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect or evaluate building envelopes, mechanical systems, electrical systems, or process systems to determine the energy consumption of each system.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Identify opportunities to improve the operation, maintenance, or energy efficiency of building or process systems.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Analyze technical feasibility of energy-saving measures, using knowledge of engineering, energy production, energy use, construction, maintenance, system operation, or process systems.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Identify and prioritize energy-saving measures.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Perform tests such as blower-door tests to locate air leaks.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Calculate potential for energy savings.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h50 min to 5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Prepare job specification sheets for home energy improvements, such as attic insulation, window retrofits, or heating system upgrades.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Recommend energy-efficient technologies or alternate energy sources.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Determine patterns of building use to show annual or monthly needs for heating, cooling, lighting, or other energy needs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Measure energy usage with devices such as data loggers, universal data recorders, light meters, sling psychrometers, psychrometric charts, flue gas analyzers, amp probes, watt meters, volt meters, thermometers, or utility meters.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Boston Dynamics Spot with Levatas gauge-reading add-on / Orbit (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Energy Engineers, Except Wind and Solar34% now, 59% by 2028
- Solar Energy Systems Engineers59% now, 90% by 2028
- Solar Energy Installation Managers54% now, 61% by 2028
- Wind Energy Development Managers33% now, 76% by 2028
- Solar Sales Representatives and Assessors87% now, 90% by 2028
- Sustainability Specialists61% now, 89% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Energy Auditors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 61% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 64% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Energy Auditors come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare audit reports containing energy analysis results or recommendations for energy cost savings (84% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Identify opportunities to improve the operation, maintenance, or energy efficiency of building or process systems (99% of the task's time now); and Analyze technical feasibility of energy-saving measures, using knowledge of engineering, energy production, energy use, construction, maintenance, system operation, or process systems (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Energy Auditors stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Collect and analyze field data related to energy usage; Inspect or evaluate building envelopes, mechanical systems, electrical systems, or process systems to determine the energy consumption of each system; and Perform tests such as blower-door tests to locate air leaks. Together such tasks are about 36% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Energy Auditors?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 5%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Energy Auditors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 39% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 4% of the working time. Its index is 0.04 of 3. One example: Boston Dynamics Spot with Levatas gauge-reading add-on / Orbit for "measure energy usage with devices such as data loggers, universal data recorders, light meters, sling psychrometers, psychrometric charts, flue gas analyzers, amp probes, watt meters, volt meters, thermometers, or utility meters". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 21 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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