Energy Industry

The energy industry has developed rapidly, because it has had to keep pace with our energy demands. Our global consumption of power has multiplied hundreds of times over in the past century, as more and more of the world’s population has been connected to the power grid and taken advantage of modern conveniences.

A large part of energy consumption is transportation, but it is hardly the only segment of our lives that is run (directly or indirectly) by the energy industry. Your home is heated and/or cooled by them, whether you use a swamp cooler, air conditioning, a coal fired stove, or a gas powered furnace. Your water is heated by them. Your house is supplied with the electricity that turns on the lights, electronics, and appliances that make modern life… modern.

The advent of the quarterly stock reporting era has affected the energy industry in much the same way it has hit other sectors of the economy. Long term vision and viability is sacrificed to promote short term profitability. The result has been a reliance on two major engines that are decades old for the vast majority of the energy industry. The two engines are the turbine (for electricity) and the internal combustion engine (for transportation).