diff --git a/src/nomad_simulations/schema_packages/properties/energies.py b/src/nomad_simulations/schema_packages/properties/energies.py
index c726c4da..80b9df29 100644
--- a/src/nomad_simulations/schema_packages/properties/energies.py
+++ b/src/nomad_simulations/schema_packages/properties/energies.py
@@ -1,134 +1,42 @@
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 import numpy as np
-from nomad.metainfo import Context, Quantity, Section, SubSection
+from nomad.metainfo import MEnum, Quantity, Reference
+from nomad.metainfo.dataset import MDataset, Dataset
+from nomad.datamodel.metainfo.model import ModelMethod
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from nomad.datamodel.datamodel import EntryArchive
-    from nomad.metainfo import Context, Section
     from structlog.stdlib import BoundLogger
 
-from nomad_simulations.schema_packages.physical_property import (
-    PhysicalProperty,
-    PropertyContribution,
-)
-
-##################
-# Abstract classes
-##################
-
-
-class BaseEnergy(PhysicalProperty):
-    """
-    Abstract class used to define a common `value` quantity with the appropriate units
-    for different types of energies, which avoids repeating the definitions for each
-    energy class.
-    """
-
-    value = Quantity(
+class Energy(MDataset):
+    m_def = Dataset(
         type=np.float64,
         unit='joule',
-        description="""
-        """,
+        description="""A base section used to define basic quantities for the `TotalEnergy` property.""",
+        default_variables=['Energy'],  # ? does this require variables of this shape
     )
 
-    def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
-        super().normalize(archive, logger)
-
-
-class EnergyContribution(BaseEnergy, PropertyContribution):
-    """
-    Abstract class for incorporating specific energy contributions to the `TotalEnergy`.
-    The inheritance from `PropertyContribution` allows to link this contribution to a
-    specific component (of class `BaseModelMethod`) of the over `ModelMethod` using the
-    `model_method_ref` quantity.
-
-    For example, for a force field calculation, the `model_method_ref` may point to a
-    particular potential type (e.g., a Lennard-Jones potential between atom types X and Y),
-    while for a DFT calculation, it may point to a particular electronic interaction term
-    (e.g., 'XC' for the exchange-correlation term, or 'Hartree' for the Hartree term).
-    Then, the contribution will be named according to this model component and the `value`
-    quantity will contain the energy contribution from this component evaluated over all
-    relevant atoms or electrons or as a function of them.
-    """
-
-    # TODO address the dual parent normalization explicity
-    def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
-        super().normalize(archive, logger)
-
-
-####################################
-# List of specific energy properties
-####################################
-
-
-class FermiLevel(BaseEnergy):
-    """
-    Energy required to add or extract a charge from a material at zero temperature. It can be also defined as the chemical potential at zero temperature.
-    """
-
-    # ! implement `iri` and `rank` as part of `m_def = Section()`
-
-    iri = 'http://fairmat-nfdi.eu/taxonomy/FermiLevel'
-
-    def __init__(
-        self, m_def: 'Section' = None, m_context: 'Context' = None, **kwargs
-    ) -> None:
-        super().__init__(m_def, m_context, **kwargs)
-        self.rank = []
-        self.name = self.m_def.name
+    # ? origin_reference
 
-    def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
-        super().normalize(archive, logger)
-
-
-#! The only issue with this structure is that total energy will never be a sum of its contributions,
-#! since kinetic energy lives separately, but I think maybe this is ok?
-class TotalEnergy(BaseEnergy):
-    """
-    The total energy of a system. `contributions` specify individual energetic
-    contributions to the `TotalEnergy`.
-    """
-
-    # ? add a generic contributions quantity to PhysicalProperty
-    contributions = SubSection(sub_section=EnergyContribution.m_def, repeats=True)
-
-    def __init__(
-        self, m_def: 'Section' = None, m_context: 'Context' = None, **kwargs
-    ) -> None:
-        super().__init__(m_def, m_context, **kwargs)
-        self.name = self.m_def.name
-
-    def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
-        super().normalize(archive, logger)
-
-
-# ? Separate quantities for nuclear and electronic KEs?
-class KineticEnergy(BaseEnergy):
-    """
-    Physical property section describing the kinetic energy of a (sub)system.
-    """
+    kind = Quantity(
+        type=MEnum('kinetic', 'potential', 'total'),
+    )
 
-    def __init__(
-        self, m_def: 'Section' = None, m_context: 'Context' = None, **kwargs
-    ) -> None:
-        super().__init__(m_def, m_context, **kwargs)
-        self.name = self.m_def.name
+    method_reference = Quantity(
+        type=Reference(ModelMethod),
+        description="""
+        Reference to a `ModelMethod` definition, according to which the energy was calculated.
+        """,
+    )
 
     def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
         super().normalize(archive, logger)
 
-
-class PotentialEnergy(BaseEnergy):
-    """
-    Physical property section describing the potential energy of a (sub)system.
-    """
-
-    def __init__(
-        self, m_def: 'Section' = None, m_context: 'Context' = None, **kwargs
-    ) -> None:
-        super().__init__(m_def, m_context, **kwargs)
-        self.name = self.m_def.name
-
-    def normalize(self, archive: 'EntryArchive', logger: 'BoundLogger') -> None:
-        super().normalize(archive, logger)
+        energy_sums = np.sum([var.data for var in self.variables if isinstance(var, Energy)], axis=0)
+        if self.data is None or self.data == []:
+            self.data = energy_sums
+        elif not np.allclose(self.data, energy_sums):
+            logger.warning(
+                f'The sum of the energies in the variables is different from the total energy: {energy_sums} != {self.data}'
+            )