Impact of the job

I'll start by discussing the impact of the job because I think most people wouldn't view this as an "EA" job. However, I think there are a lot of high-impact careers in HVAC and I want to give some more context for that.

I work at a major HVAC equipment manufacturer. I do research and development, which means that I look at new technologies and prototype ways they could be incorporated into products.

I think there are two routes to having impact in HVAC equipment design, and I'm lucky enough to be able to work on both:

1. Reduce the environmental impact of HVAC equipment (either in terms of how much carbon it takes to manufacture the equipment or in terms of the efficiency of the equipment). Climate change isn't often considered a very "EA" issue because it's not very neglected. However, I think there are a lot of low hanging fruit in HVAC. Based on the new products I've seen my team and other companies we compete with roll out, I'd guess that a very smart person in HVAC could reduce global annual carbon emissions by 0.01% to 0.2% over the course of a career.
2. Reduce the spread of diseases (through improved ventilation, filtration, etc.). This is actually much less tractable as an engineer in an established company I think. Because customers are relatively unwilling to pay for IAQ systems, manufacturers aren't doing a lot of work on it. However, there are a lot of startups which are much more focused on this issue.

The Job

My job involves the following work:

• Identifying new technologies (10% of my time): This involves reading academic papers, looking through science news websites, going to conferences, and listening to startup pitches. Sometimes it's clear how a technology would slot into HVAC products and other times it takes brainstorming to think of how it might be useful.
• Doing shallow investigations of promising technologies (15% of my time): This involves running the numbers to see if a technology could be feasible. It also involves seeing if the numbers quoted to us by a startup or vendor are physically plausible.
• Designing, building, and testing prototypes (25% of my time): Once we've decided to pursue an idea, we try to build and test a prototype. Sometimes this involves working with machinists to fabricate new components, other times it just involves modifying control software. It almost always involves putting temperature and pressure sensors all over a piece of HVAC equipment and measuring the results.
• Modeling (40% of my time): We analyze test data and try to make predictions about how the technology will perform across a wide range of operating conditions.
• Communication (10% of my time): We work with our marketing department to build a business case for a new technology.

My path to the job

I've been in this role for three years. It was my first job after finishing my bachelors in mechanical engineering. I wasn't thinking about impact when I got into it. But the more I've worked on HVAC, the more convinced I am that it's where I have the greatest potential to make a difference.

I think you'd have an easy time getting a job in HVAC R&D if you've completed a bachelors in mechanical engineering. Aerospace engineers and electrical engineers are also needed. R&D roles are often part of NPD (new product development) teams.