Energy industry

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:

Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy may refer to:

Nuclear Energy (sculpture)

Nuclear Energy is a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore that is located on the campus of the University of Chicago at the site of world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1.

Location

It is located on Ellis Avenue, between the Max Palevsky West dormitory and the Mansueto Library. This site is located in the Hyde Park community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The location commemorates the exact location where the Manhattan Project team devised the first nuclear reactor to produce the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction under the former stands of Stagg Field.

History

The sculpture was commissioned by the B. F. Ferguson monument fund.

The sculpture is described as 14.0 feet (4.3 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter by the Smithsonian Institution and it sits atop a base that is 1.5 feet (0.46 m) in height and 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter. However, the University of Chicago says it is only 12 feet (3.7 m) in height. The Henry Moore Foundation lists its height at 3.66m. The sculpture reminds some of the human skull, while it reminds others of an atomic mushroom cloud.

Nuclear power

2012 World [civil] electricity generation by fuels (IEA, 2014)

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power station. The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion. Presently, the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind, with nuclear decay processes, primarily in the form of geothermal energy, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators, in niche uses making up the rest.

Nuclear (fission) power stations, excluding the contribution from naval nuclear fission reactors, provided 11% of the world's electricity in 2012, somewhat less than that generated by hydro-electric stations at 16%. Since electricity accounts for about 25% of humanity's energy usage with the majority of the rest coming from fossil fuel reliant sectors such as transport, manufacture and home heating, nuclear fission's contribution to the global final energy consumption is about 2.5%, a little more than the combined global electricity production from "new renewables"; wind, solar, biofuel and geothermal power, which together provided 2% of global final energy consumption in 2014.