ENERGY – CAREER PROFILES AND RESOURCES
Updated December 2008
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Industry:
Energy Industry
Sub-Sector
Overview
Area Description:
The energy industry is a generic term for all of the industries involved the production and sale of energy, including fuel
extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. In particular, the energy industry comprises:
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the petroleum industry, including oil companies, petroleum refiners, fuel transport and end-user sales at gas stations
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the gas industry, including natural gas extraction, and coal gas manufacture, as well as distribution and sales
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the electrical power industry, including electricity generation, electric power distribution and sales
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the coal industry
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the nuclear power industry
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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.
In 2005, the energy sector constituted some 5% of the U.S. economy, generating revenues in excess of $1.5 trillion and
employing more than one million people.
The following document gives an excellent introduction to the American energy landscape and is essential reading for
anyone new to the sector: “What You Need to Know About Energy, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems
(BEES),” National Research Council, with Curt Suplee, 2008 - http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12204.
Energy consumption in America is split between the transportation, industrial, commercial and residential sectors. There is
a great divide in the energy sector between the oil and gas “side” and the electricity “side,” each of which accounts for
about half of the business jobs across the sector. The economics of the two fields, and the regulations that govern them, are
quite distinct. Generally, people make their energy careers in one camp or the other, without too much crossover. Natural
gas is one arena that brid