im level 221 and recently i have noticed that my ranking has slowed down considerably from about once every 30 hours to once every 72 hours i have 1405 energy.
so i was wondering if anyone had some tips on what i should be doing to try and speed up my ranking

Use neurals when you're using a full energy bar. start putting rank points into engineers.

I noticed the same thing. and just started pumping those engineers full of juice.
About 2 months ago or more, we were in a war.. it sucked only having 1500 energy at that rank.
now i have spent a bit of money to help me.. but basically get as many engineers as possible.
increase your arti/hr as well..
in 2.5 months, mine went up about 7X, from ~1500, to 10.5K an hour as of today... it will be over 11K by the end of the week.
I'm rank 324 now, with an energy pool of 2800 without relays.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18661 to see the change that being focused gets you

it's about balance i keep my energy at 10/1 ratio so at i'm at rank 260 atm with 2600 max energy Weps and relays off doing missions and hitting elites i can rank once a day with ease

your best xp return is from NPC's, so try fighting more of them.

Your probably getting behind on your energy research. Try to get the highest level relays you can, I got hyperchannels around rank 300.

Look for alerted npc's that drop energy equipment, even if its a measly 40pts. They add up and since you most likely have enough space for all your reactors anyway... the extra bumps help.

Be smart about your energy. When your 2/3 the way to leveling start calculating how much of what you need to get the rest of the way there. You don't always need to use neurals; you have 2500 exp left to level with 1000 energy to burn for example. Be efficient

Yea engineers are obviously going to help out.

Since NPC'ing is the best way to level up, tac off might be better than engineers. Make sure to use all attack buffs - crystals, crimson amp obel, shockpulse. Grab surge plexii immediately. Work on the extra npc slots as well.