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Introduction
Energy (from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia) 'activity') is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the capacity to do work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity – the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant, although it can be converted in form. The unit of measurement for energy in the International System of Units (SI) is the joule (J).
Forms of energy include the kinetic energy of a moving object, the potential energy stored by an object (for instance due to its position in a field), the elastic energy stored in a solid object, chemical energy associated with chemical reactions, the radiant energy carried by electromagnetic radiation, the internal energy contained within a thermodynamic system, and rest energy associated with an object's rest mass. These are not mutually exclusive.
All living organisms constantly take in and release energy. The Earth's climate and ecosystems processes are driven primarily by radiant energy from the Sun. (Full article...)
Selected article
At about the same time, OPEC members agreed to use their leverage over the world price-setting mechanism for oil in order to quadruple world oil prices, after attempts at negotiation failed. Due to the dependence of the industrialized world on OPEC oil, these price increases were dramatically inflationary to the economies of the targeted countries, while at the same time suppressive of economic activity.
This increase in the price of oil had a dramatic effect on oil exporting nations, for the countries of the Middle East who had long been dominated by the industrial powers were seen to have acquired control of a vital commodity. The traditional flow of capital reversed as the oil exporting nations accumulated vast wealth. Meanwhile, the shock produced chaos in the West, and shares on the New York Stock Exchange lost $97 billion in value in six weeks.
Selected image
Photo credit: Charliebrown7034
Skyglow over New York City, one form of light pollution.
Did you know?
- During World War I, the German Army produced shale oil from Yarmouk oil shale deposits in Jordan to operate the Hijazi Railway (pictured)?
- Dennis Spurgeon, formerly chief operating officer at uranium supplier USEC Inc., became the United States Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy in 2006?
- Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited was the first offshore oil company to exploit the Athabasca oil sands in Canada?
- Teesside Power Station is the largest combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant in Europe.?
- The Klaipėda Geothermal Demonstration Plant in Lithuania was the first geothermal plant in the Baltic Sea region?
- Hitachi Zosen Corporation built the first oil tanker in Japan in 1908 per an order by Standard Oil Company?
- Coalbed methane is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds?
- When constructed in 1906, the Baku–Batumi pipeline was the world's longest kerosene pipeline?
Selected biography
Fermi was well-known for his simplicity in solving problems. Whenever possible, he avoided complicated mathematics and obtained quick results based on order of magnitude estimates. Fermi also meticulously recorded his calculations in notebooks, and later used to solve many new problems that he encountered based on these earlier known problems.
After accepting the 1938 Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Fermi immigrated to New York with his family to escape the anti-Semitic laws of Fascist Italy, as his wife Laura was Jewish.
After working at Columbia University, Fermi went to the University of Chicago and began studies that led to the construction of the world's first nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1). The first artificial, self-sustaining, nuclear chain reaction was initiated within CP-1, on December 2, 1942.
In the news
- 25 October 2026 – Islamist insurgency in Niger, Foreign relations of Algeria, Foreign relations of Niger
- Algeria's parliament approves the deployment of army units to Madama, Niger, to protect energy infrastructure, marking Algeria's first foreign military deployment since 1973. (BBC News)
- 21 October 2026 –
- The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) of the United Kingdom approves production from the Jackdaw gas field after energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh authorized the NSTA to grant consent, allowing operator Adura to begin supplying gas by late October. (UPI)
- 21 October 2026 – 2026 Italian unrest
- Italian interior minister Matteo Piantedosi announces a crackdown on truck drivers and farmers protesting in southern Italy over the past month against high fuel prices by blocking highways and transport routes, reporting that they have identified 1,339 individuals, reported 71, and fined 242. (Ansa in Italian)
- 17 October 2026 – Gen Z protests
- Yellow vests activists hold mass demonstrations across France against rising fuel prices and join the student protests. (Al Jazeera)
- 14 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- A Russian ballistic missile attack strikes a power station in the Dniprovskyi District, Kyiv, Ukraine, leaving more than 1,000 residential buildings without heating. (BBC News)
General images
Benefitting from favorable policies and declining costs of modules, photovoltaic solar installation has grown consistently. In 2023, China added 60% of the world's new capacity. (from Solar power)
The warming influence (called radiative forcing) of long-lived greenhouse gases has increased substantially in the last 40 years, with carbon dioxide and methane being the dominant drivers of global warming. (from Natural gas)
The outdoor section of a heat pump. In contrast to oil and gas boilers, they use electricity and are highly efficient. As such, electrification of heating can significantly reduce emissions. (from Sustainable energy)
Passive cooling features, such as these windcatcher towers in Iran, bring cool air into buildings without any use of energy. (from Sustainable energy)
Storage tanks and towers at Shell Puget Sound Refinery (Shell Oil Company), Anacortes, Washington (from Oil refinery)
Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of electricity supply technologies, median values calculated by IPCC (from Nuclear power)
The town of Pripyat abandoned since 1986, with the Chernobyl plant and the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement arch in the distance (from Nuclear power)
A breakdown of the products made from a typical barrel of US oil (from Oil refinery)
Seasonal cycle of capacity factors for wind and photovoltaics in Europe shown under idealized assumptions. The figure illustrates the balancing effects of wind and solar energy at the seasonal scale (Kaspar et al., 2019). (from Solar power)
Survey respondents in the European Union and US considered investment in nuclear energy to be a higher priority than those in China, though all three favored renewable energy much more strongly than nuclear overall. (from Nuclear power)
A parabolic collector concentrates sunlight onto a tube in its focal point. (from Solar power)
The map shows the commercial nuclear power plants in the world. Research reactors are not considered nuclear power plants.Operating reactors, building new reactorsOperating reactors, planning new buildNo reactors, building new reactorsNo reactors, new in planningOperating reactors, stableOperating reactors, decided on phase-outCivil nuclear power prohibitedNo reactors(from Nuclear power)
Anti-nuclear protest near nuclear waste disposal centre at Gorleben in northern Germany (from Nuclear power)
Buildings in the Solar Settlement at Schlierberg, Germany, produce more energy than they consume. They incorporate rooftop solar panels and are built for maximum energy efficiency. (from Sustainable energy)
Sample of crude oil (petroleum) (from Oil refinery)
Refinery, Bayport Industrial Complex, Harris County, Texas (from Oil refinery)
Hydro generation by country, 2021 (from Hydroelectricity)
The Warwick Castle water-powered generator house, used for the generation of electricity for the castle from 1894 until 1940 (from Hydroelectricity)
Schematics of a grid-connected residential PV power system (from Solar power)
A gas bill from Baltimore, Maryland, 1834, for manufactured coal gas, before the introduction of ground-extracted methane gas. (from Natural gas)
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System with all three towers under load (from Solar power)
Nuclear fuel assemblies being inspected before entering a pressurized water reactor in the United States (from Nuclear power)
Enhanced geothermal system 1: Reservoir 2: Pump house 3: Heat exchanger 4: Turbine hall 5: Production well 6: Injection well 7: Hot water to district heating 8: Porous sediments 9: Observation well 10: Crystalline bedrock (from Geothermal power)
The Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland (from Nuclear power)
Since 1985, the proportion of electricity generated from low-carbon sources has increased only slightly. Advances in deploying renewables have been mostly offset by declining shares of nuclear power. (from Sustainable energy)
The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG), used in several space missions such as the Curiosity Mars rover (from Nuclear power)
Yearly solar generation by continent (from Solar power)
Typical composition of uranium dioxide fuel before and after approximately three years in the once-through nuclear fuel cycle of a LWR (from Nuclear power)
Reactor decay heat as a fraction of full power after the reactor shutdown, using two different correlations. To remove the decay heat, reactors need cooling after the shutdown of the fission reactions. A loss of the ability to remove decay heat caused the Fukushima accident. (from Nuclear power)
A woman in rural Rajasthan, India, collects firewood. The use of wood and other polluting fuels for cooking causes millions of deaths each year from indoor and outdoor air pollution. (from Sustainable energy)
Geothermal generation by country, 2021 (from Geothermal power)
Example of energy policy decisions: The goal of the Southern Gas Corridor, which connects the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe, is to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian gas. (from Energy policy)
Deaths caused as a result of fossil fuel use (areas of rectangles in chart) greatly exceed those resulting from production of sustainable energy (rectangles barely visible in chart). (from Sustainable energy)
Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional distillation. The fractions at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. The heavy bottom fractions are often cracked into lighter, more useful products. All of the fractions are processed further in other refining units. (from Oil refinery)- Deaths caused by use of fossil fuels such as natural gas (areas of rectangles in chart) greatly exceed those resulting from production of wind energy, nuclear energy or solar energy (rectangles barely visible in chart). (from Natural gas)
Map of solar resources from World bank (from Solar power)
Yearly hydro generation by continent (from Hydroelectricity)
Part of the Senftenberg Solarpark, a solar photovoltaic power plant located on former open-pit mining areas close to the city of Senftenberg, in Eastern Germany. The 78 MW Phase 1 of the plant was completed within three months. (from Solar power)
The US has been counting on private industry to lead in fusion power, while more recently China's government has made fusion a national priority. In 2025, $2.1 billion was poured into a single Chinese state-owned fusion company, an amount two and a half times the U.S. Energy Department's annual fusion budget. (from Nuclear power)
Activity of spent UOx fuel in comparison to the activity of natural uranium ore over time (from Nuclear power)
Natural gas processing plant in Aderklaa, Lower Austria (from Natural gas)
Peoples Gas Manlove Field natural gas storage area in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, Illinois. In the foreground (left) is one of the numerous wells for the underground storage area, with an LNG plant, and above-ground storage tanks are in the background (right). (from Natural gas)
Fire-extinguishing operations after the Texas City refinery explosion (from Oil refinery)
Production of technology such as renewable energy sources starts a positive feedback loop to form what has been called a virtuous cycle—the opposite of a vicious cycle. For example, as more and more solar modules are deployed, prices fall because of the economies of scale, allowing the technology to become cost-competitive in new applications that in turn increase demand for more deployment. (from Sustainable energy)
Natural gas drilling rig in Texas, US (from Natural gas)
Quotations
- "If we already have the Kyoto protocol, why invent another proposal and not just implement one that already exists? If a country is incapable of implementing the result of an international treaty that has established rules and regulations, it won't end up implementing those rules voluntarily."" – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 2007
- "Climate change is a challenge China must cope with to realize sustainable development... Implementing a climate change containment policy may cost a fortune, but the cost will be even higher if we delay. Early action is imperative." – Ma Kai, 2007
- "The consequences of restricting the development of developing nations will be much more serious than the consequences of global warming." – Ma Kai, 2007
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