Operate energy production equipment
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 4 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Controlling Machines and Processes (4.A.3.a.3) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 4 occupations that perform it.
- Operate nuclear power reactors in accordance with policies and procedures to protect workers from radiation and to ensure environmental safety.
- Control power generating equipment, including boilers, turbines, generators, or reactors, using control boards or semi-automatic equipment.
- Start, adjust, or stop generating units, operating valves, gates, or auxiliary equipment in hydroelectric power generating plants.
- Operate or tend stationary engines, boilers, and auxiliary equipment, such as pumps, compressors, or air-conditioning equipment, to supply and maintain steam or heat for buildings, marine vessels, or pneumatic tools.
- Implement operational procedures, such as those controlling start-up or shut-down activities.
- Start or stop generators, auxiliary pumping equipment, turbines, or other power plant equipment as necessary.
- Implement load or switching orders in hydroelectric plants, in accordance with specifications or instructions.
- Monitor or operate boilers, turbines, wells, or auxiliary power plant equipment.
- Open and close valves and switches in sequence to start or shut down auxiliary units.
- Operate high voltage switches or related devices in hydropower stations.
- Control generator output to match the phase, frequency, or voltage of electricity supplied to panels.
- Operate hydroelectric plant equipment, such as turbines, pumps, valves, gates, fans, electric control boards, or battery banks.
- Operate or maintain distributed power generation equipment, including fuel cells or microturbines, to produce energy on-site for manufacturing or other commercial purposes.
- Operate, control, or monitor gasifiers or related equipment, such as coolers, water quenches, water gas shifts reactors, or sulfur recovery units, to produce syngas or electricity from coal.
- Operate, control, or monitor integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) or related equipment, such as air separation units, to generate electricity from coal.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
4 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Operate energy production or distribution equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.