Energy and performance optimizing job scheduling that includes queuing jobs; characterizing jobs as hot or cold, specifying a hot and a cold job sub-queue; iteratively for a number of schedules, until estimated performance and power characteristics of executing jobs in accordance with a schedule meets predefined selection criteria: determining a schedule in dependence upon a user provided parameter, the characterization of each job as hot or cold, and an energy and performance optimizing heuristic; estimating performance and power characteristics of executing the jobs in accordance with the schedule; and determining whether the estimated performance and power characteristics meet the predefined selection criteria. If the estimated performance and power characteristics do not meet the predefined selection criteria, adjusting the user-provided parameter for a next iteration and executing the plurality of jobs in accordance with the determined schedule if the estimated performance and power characteristics meet the predefined selection criteria.