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The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure and maintenance of society in almost all countries. In particular, the energy industry comprises: * the petroleum industry, including oil companies, petroleum refiners, fuel transport and end-user sales at gas stations * the gas industry, including natural gas extraction, and coal gas manufacture, as well as distribution and sales * the electrical power industry, including electricity generation, electric power distribution and sales * the coal industry * the nuclear power industry * the renewable energy industry, comprising alternative energy and sustainable energy companies, including those involved in hydroelectric power, wind power, and solar power generation, and the manufacture, distribution and sale of alternative fuels * traditional energy industry based on the collection and distribution of firewood, the use of which, for cooking and heating, is particularly common in poorer countries ==History== The use of energy has been a key in the development of the human society by helping it to control and adapt to the environment. Managing the use of energy is inevitable in any functional society. In the industrialized world the development of energy resources has become essential for agriculture, transportation, waste collection, information technology, communications that have become prerequisites of a developed society. The increasing use of energy since the Industrial Revolution has also brought with it a number of serious problems, some of which, such as global warming, present potentially grave risks to the world. In society and in the context of humanities, the word ''energy'' is used as a synonym of energy resources, and most often refers to substances like fuels, petroleum products and electricity in general. These are sources of ''usable energy'', in that they can be easily transformed to other kinds of energy sources that can serve a particular useful purpose. This difference vis a vis energy in natural sciences can lead to some confusion, because energy resources are not conserved in nature in the same way as energy is conserved in the context of physics. The actual energy content is always conserved, but when it is converted into heat for example, it usually becomes less useful to society, and thus appears to have been "used up". Ever since humanity discovered various energy resources available in nature, it has been inventing devices, known as machines, that make life more comfortable by using energy resources. Thus, although the primitive man knew the utility of fire to cook food, the invention of devices like gas burners and microwave ovens has increased the usage of energy for this purpose alone manifold. The trend is the same in any other field of social activity, be it construction of social infrastructure, manufacturing of fabrics for covering; porting; printing; decorating, for example textiles, air conditioning; communication of information or for moving people and goods (automobiles). ImageSize = width:800 height:200 PlotArea = left:160 right:20 bottom:25 top:10 AlignBars = justify Period = from:0 till:250 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:0 PlotData = align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(0,-5) bar:Proto-humans from: 2 till: 0 color:claret bar:Hunter-gatherer_society from: 3 till: 0 color:claret from: 5 till: 3 color:purple bar:Primitive_agraricultural_society from: 4 till: 0 color:claret from: 8 till: 4 color:purple from: 12 till: 8 color:green bar:Advanced_agricultural_society from: 6 till: 0 color:claret from: 18 till: 6 color:purple from: 25 till: 18 color:green from: 26 till: 25 color:red bar:Industrial_society from: 7 till: 0 color:claret from: 39 till: 7 color:purple from: 63 till: 39 color:green from: 77 till: 63 color:red bar:Technological_society from: 10 till: 0 color:claret text:Food from: 76 till: 10 color:purple text:Home and commerce from: 167 till: 76 color:green text:Industry and agriculture from: 230 till: 167 color:red text:Transport 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「energy industry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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