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The energy industry is a generic term for all of the industries
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
 involved the production and sale of energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, including fuel
Fuel

Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy and to heat or to move an object. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion....
 extraction, manufacturing, refining
Oil refinery

An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas....
 and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure
Infrastructure

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise , or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
 and maintenance of society in almost all countries
Nation

A nation is a cultural and social community. In as much as most members never meet each other, yet feel a common bond, it may be considered an imagined community....
.

In particular, the energy industry comprises:

United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 developed the International Standard Industrial Classification
International Standard Industrial Classification

The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities is a United Nations system for classifying economic data. The United Nations Statistics Division describes it in the following terms:...
, which is a list of economic and social classifications.






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The energy industry is a generic term for all of the industries
Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
 involved the production and sale of energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, including fuel
Fuel

Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy and to heat or to move an object. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion....
 extraction, manufacturing, refining
Oil refinery

An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas....
 and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure
Infrastructure

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise , or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
 and maintenance of society in almost all countries
Nation

A nation is a cultural and social community. In as much as most members never meet each other, yet feel a common bond, it may be considered an imagined community....
.

In particular, the energy industry comprises:
  • the petroleum industry
    Petroleum industry

    The petroleum industry includes the global processes of Hydrocarbon exploration, Extraction of petroleum, Oil refinery, transporting , and marketing petroleum List of crude oil products....
    , including oil companies, petroleum refiners, fuel transport and end-user sales at gas stations
  • the gas industry, including natural gas
    Natural gas

    Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
     extraction, and coal gas
    Coal gas

    Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities....
     manufacture, as well as distribution and sales
  • the electrical power industry
    Electrical power industry

    The electrical power industry provides the production and delivery of electrical power , often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection....
    , including electricity generation
    Electricity generation

    Electricity generation is the process of converting non-electrical energy to electricity. For electric utility, it is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers....
    , electric power distribution and sales
  • the coal
    Coal

    Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
     industry
  • the nuclear power
    Nuclear power

    Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nucleus via controlled nuclear reactions. The only method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods might one day include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay ....
     industry
  • the renewable energy industry
    Renewable energy industry

    The present-day renewable energy industry is an energy industry focusing on "new" and "appropriate" renewable energy technologies, which excludes large-scale hydro-electricity....
    , comprising alternative energy
    Alternative energy

    Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
     and sustainable energy
    Sustainable energy

    Sustainable energy is the provision of energy such that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs....
     companies, including those involved in hydroelectric power, wind power
    Wind power

    Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 120.8 gigawatts....
    , and solar power
    Solar power

    Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient history using a range of ever-evolving technologies....
     generation, and the manufacture, distribution and sale of alternative fuel
    Alternative fuel

    Alternative fuels, also known non-conventional fuels, are any materials or Chemical substances that can be used as a fuel, other than conventional fuels....
    s.
  • traditional energy industry based on the collection and distribution of firewood
    Firewood

    Firewood is any wood material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form....
    , the use of which, for cooking and heating, is particularly common in poorer countries


Defining the energy industry


Government classifications

The United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 developed the International Standard Industrial Classification
International Standard Industrial Classification

The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities is a United Nations system for classifying economic data. The United Nations Statistics Division describes it in the following terms:...
, which is a list of economic and social classifications. There is no distinct classification for an energy industry, because the classification system is based on activities, products, and expenditures according to purpose.

Countries in North America use the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS sectors #21 and #22 (mining and utilities) might roughly define the energy industry in North America. This classification is used by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Financial market classifications

The Global Industry Classification Standard
Global Industry Classification Standard

The Global Industry Classification Standard is used as a basis for S&P and MSCI financial market indexes in which each company is assigned to a sub-industry, and to a corresponding industry, industry group and sector, according to the definition of its principal business activity....
 used by Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. It serves a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals....
 define the energy industry as comprising companies primarily working with oil, gas, coal and consumable fuels, excluding companies working with certain industrial gases.

Add also to expand this section: Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of several stock market index, created by nineteenth-century The Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow....


Environmental impact


Because of government encouragement in the form of subsidies
Subsidy

In economics, a subsidy is a form of financial assistance paid to a business or economic sector. A subsidy can be used to support businesses that might otherwise fail, or to encourage activities that would otherwise not take place....
 and tax
Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon an individual or Legal person by a state or the functional equivalent of a state.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entity....
 incentive
Incentive

In economics and sociology, an incentive is any factor that enables or motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternatives....
s, energy conservation
Energy conservation

Energy conservation is the practice of decreasing the quantity of energy used. It may be achieved through efficient energy use, in which case energy use is decreased while achieving a similar outcome, or by reduced consumption of energy services....
 efforts are also being increasingly viewed as a major function of the energy industry, as saving an amount of energy has almost identical economic benefits to generating that same amount of energy. The energy industry generates a large amount of pollution
Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms ....
, including the generation of toxic gases and greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that Absorption and Emission radiation within the Infrared#Different regions in the infrared range....
es from fuel combustion, nuclear waste from nuclear power generation, and oil spillages in the petroleum industry. Because of government regulation, pollution
Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms ....
 regulation
Regulation

Regulation refers to "controlling human or societal behaviour by rules or restrictions." Regulation can take many forms: law restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation, social regulation , co-regulation and market regulation....
 efforts form an increasing part of the energy industry, and the trading of carbon credit
Carbon credit

Carbon credits are a key component of national and international emissions trading schemes that have been implemented to mitigate global warming....
s and pollution credits on the free market may also result in energy saving and pollution control measures becoming even more important to energy companies.

See also

  • Energy: world resources and consumption
  • Hydrogen economy
    Hydrogen economy

    The hydrogen economy is a proposed system of meeting energy needs by using hydrogen as a fuel source that could be generated from alternative fuels or other energy sources that don't give off greenhouse gases....
  • Canadian Centre for Energy Information
    Canadian Centre for Energy Information

    The Canadian Centre for Energy Information is a non-profit organization created in 2002 to meet an urgent need for information on all aspects of the Canadian energy system from oil, natural gas, coal, thermal, and hydroelectric power through to Nuclear power, solar, wind, and other sources of energy....