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In this paper, the energy selective electron (ESE) refrigerator with an ideal energy filter based on resonant tunneling is established. It consists of two infinitely large electron reservoirs with different temperatures and chemical potentials, and electrons can be exchanged between the two reservoirs through the ideal energy filter. According to Landauer formula and the assumption of being coupled tightly with the electron current, the expressions for the heat flux, the cooling rate and the coefficient of performance (COP) are derived analytically. The performance characteristic curves such as the cooling rate versus coefficient of performance, the cooling rate and coefficient of performance versus the position of energy level are plotted by numerical calculation. The optimal regions of the cooling rate and the COP are determined. Moreover, we optimize the cooling rate and the COP respectively with respect to the position of energy level. The influence of the width of energy level on performance of the ESE refrigerator is discussed. Finally, based on the optimization criterion χ = γ ⋅ ...C for refrigerator, i.e. the product of the COP times the cooling rate, the optimal performance of the ESE refrigerator is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]