What If Video Game Characters Worked in Renewable Energy?

What If Video Game Characters Worked in Renewable Energy?


Professionals working in the renewable energy industry are true everyday heroes. They help design, build and maintain technologies that produce cleaner, more efficient energy to fuel society's daily needs and help preserve the planet.

Imagine if the heroes from your favorite video games harnessed their power and put it toward supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency. Of course, they can't, because they exist only in our game consoles and in our hearts. But that didn't stop us from having a little fun and picking five video game characters that would make excellent additions to the industry.


By trade, Mario is a plumber. However, his skills could be put to good use in wind energy technology. Given his resume, it's safe to assume that he'd be fit for a hands-on career. The fact that he comfortably travels through warp pipes suggests that he wouldn't mind working in the confined spaces of a wind turbine. He's also been known to use wind to his advantage in his past adventures; he uses the cape feather to travel on gusts of wind in multiple iterations of the Super Mario Bros. game franchise, and has plenty of past experience getting launched into the air via pesky tornadoes in Super Smash Bros. It's safe to say he's familiar with the power of wind.

Link from Legend of Zelda

Link has a lot of skills (sword-fighting, princess-rescuing), but he also is a gifted ocarina player. By playing Sun's Song on this magical instrument, he can make the sun rise and set at his will. This trait alone would make him a perfect fit for working in solar energy. After all, solar panels would be even more efficient if we could control when the sun shines.

Chell from Portal

Chell is a scientist gifted with the ability to solve complex puzzles. While she puts this to use in order to navigate the Aperture Science Enrichment Center in Portal, her problem-solving and critical thinking skills could also be put to use as an electrical engineering technician. As an added bonus, her ability to teleport using her portal gun would make her particularly agile around a work site.

The Player from Minecraft

In the simplest terms, the point of Minecraft is to make stuff. The player is able to collect tools and resources to build structures — and protect them from destructive monsters that come out at night. This imagination and thoughtfulness could be put toward a career in energy efficiency. Building homes and other structures in a way that effectively uses energy and resources sounds like the perfect challenge for this character.

Samus Aran from Metroid

If Samus ever decided to give up her gig as a galactic bounty hunter, she could make a nice career for herself in power utility technology. Her powered exoskeleton not only gives her strength and endurance, but could also serve as the ultimate safety gear for working with high voltage equipment. Her directed-energy weapon could also be used to generate energy — although we understand that it's probably much more fun to play with in combat.

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