Energy includes companies involved in the exploration and development of oil or gas reserves, drilling and refining, and integrated power companies working on renewable energy and coal. This industry locates energy resources, transforms them, and finally deals with the production and sale of energy. Access to affordable energy is fundamental for human development and economic growth, because without power or electricity, human opportunities are significantly limited.
In this article we will focus on energy sources, their availability to mankind for use and consumption. As a process, energy must be generated (converted into electricity), transmitted to a distribution center, distributed to end users and exchanged between different parties.
What is energy?
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability of a physical system to work on other physical systems. Since work is defined as a force acting over a distance (a length of space), energy is always equivalent to the ability to exert pulls or pushes against the fundamental forces of nature, along a path of a certain length. Energy (like mass) cannot be created or destroyed.
Distinction between energy and power:
Although in everyday life the terms energy and power are essentially synonyms in usage, scientists and engineers distinguish them. In its technical sense, power is not the same thing as energy at all, but it is the rate at which energy is converted (or, equivalently, at which work is done). Energy industry or energy field also refers to the power industry.
Energy transformations:
One form of energy can often be easily transformed into another using a device, such as a battery, from chemical energy to electrical energy; a dam: from gravitational potential energy to the kinetic energy of moving water (and the blades of a turbine) and finally to electrical energy via an electric generator. Similarly, in the case of a chemical explosion, the chemical potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy and thermal energy in a very short time. Yet another example is that of a pendulum. At its highest points, the kinetic energy is zero and the gravitational potential energy is maximum. At its lowest point, the kinetic energy is maximum and is equal to the decrease in potential energy. Once a useful process has taken place, the total energy is conserved, but the resource itself is not conserved, since a process usually transforms energy into unusable forms (such as unnecessary or excessive heat).
What is the energy sector?
Since mankind has discovered various energy resources available in nature, they have invented devices, called machines, which make life more comfortable by using energy resources. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure and maintenance of society in almost every country.
The energy industry includes all industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. The energy industry is the totality of all industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining, and distribution. In some industries, the word energy is used as a synonym for energy resources, which refer to substances such as fuels, petroleum products and electricity in general, because a significant part of the energy contained in these resources can easily be extracted. to serve a useful purpose. objective.
Energy industry sectors:
Energy development is an effort to provide sufficient sources of energy to modern societies as they depend on external energy sources. As energy allows people to live in otherwise unfavorable climatic conditions through the use of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
The energy sector includes the major energy demand sectors (industrial, residential and commercial, transportation and agriculture) and the energy supply sector (resource extraction, conversion and delivery of energy products). The energy industry is very broad, but it can be divided into five main categories. The following paragraphs discuss some common sectors of the energy industry.
1. Fossil fuel industries
These industries include petroleum industries (oil companies, oil refiners, transportation of fuel, and sales to end users at gas stations), coal industries (extraction and processing), and natural gas industries (extraction of natural gas and coal gas manufacturing, as well as distribution and sales).
Fossil fuel sources burn coal or hydrocarbons, which are the remains of decaying plants and animals. There are three main types of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. Another fossil fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), is mainly derived from the production of natural gas. Heat from the combustion of fossil fuels is used either directly for space heating and process heating, or converted into mechanical energy for vehicles, industrial processes or electricity generation. Efforts by oil and gas industries to extend fossil fuel resources can buy time for the development of alternative sources, such as solar, wind and biofuels.
2. The electric power industry
This includes electricity generation, electricity distribution and sales. Even though the age of electricity and automobile transportation has only been around for a little over a century, it has almost become a necessity of life.
Transmission of electricity:
Power grids are the networks used to transmit and distribute electricity from the source of generation to the end user, where the two may be hundreds of kilometers away. Sources include power generation plants such as a nuclear reactor, coal-fired power plant, etc. A combination of substations, transformers, pylons, cables and piping is used to maintain a constant flow of electricity.
3. The nuclear power industry
Nuclear energy is the use of sustained nuclear fission to produce heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world’s energy and 13-14% of the world’s electricity, with the United States, France and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear-generated electricity. In 2007, the IAEA reported that there were 439 active nuclear reactors worldwide, operating in 31 countries.
However, nuclear power plant development plans have mostly been put on hold for further debate, following major nuclear accidents at power plants such as Chernobyl, Russia, in 1986, and radioactive leaks at Fukushima in Japan after the 2011 tsunami.
4. The renewable energy industry
This industry includes alternative energy and sustainable energy companies. This sector includes those involved in hydroelectric power, wind power and solar power generation, as well as the manufacturing, distribution and sale of alternative fuels.
Renewable energy is energy that comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels and was commonly referred to as alternative energy in the 1970s and 1980s. Wind, solar, and biomass are three renewable energy sources.
Tidal energy can be extracted from the Moon’s gravity-fed tides by placing a water turbine in a tidal stream, or by building impoundment dams that release water through a turbine. The turbine can spin an electrical generator or a gas compressor, which can then store energy until it is needed. Coastal tides are a clean, free, renewable and sustainable source of energy. The drive to develop renewable and clean energy sources will continue to play a major role in the energy industry.
5. Traditional energy industry
This is the traditional industry based on the collection and distribution of firewood, the use of which for cooking and heating is particularly common in the poorest countries.
Biomass production involves using waste or other renewable resources such as corn or other plants to generate electricity. As the waste decomposes, the methane produced is captured in pipes and then burned to generate electricity. Vegetation and wood can be directly burned to generate energy, like fossil fuels, or transformed into alcohols.
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Creation Date Thursday, June 21, 2012 Views 9647