These energy industry events and conferences listed below bring together corporate executives, investors, lawmakers and regular folks looking to learn more about a particular industry.

As big as it is, the energy industry has a wealth of  organizations to promote its interests and educate the public.  Here's a sampling.

Not long ago, it was hard for retail investors to play the oil patch. Not anymore. As the energy bull market rages on, investors looking for a piece of the gains in oil and gas (and alternative energy) need only select from the dozens of energy-oriented Exchange Traded Funds (ETFSs) that are cropping up to meet demand.

Even with erratic federal and state subsidies, wind capacity in the US has blossomed since 2000, and there is now enough to serve 5 million homes. The Energy Dept. estimates wind could fulfill 20 percent of our electricity needs by 2020 if the right infrastructure is put in place.

Geothermal power has not only been getting investor attention recently, but it can lay claim to being perhaps the oldest of renewable energy sources.  It is also genuinely renewable. Estimates vary considerably, but all say the potential is vast compared to what exists today.

With the proliferation of energy-oriented mutual funds over the last ten years, getting a piece of this supercharged, if highly volatile, sector has never been easier. But energy funds have been notoriously hot and cold over the years, so investors should allocate no more than 5 percent of their total portfolio to this sector.

Alex Sink, Florida Chief Financial Officer, said this morning she is not in favor of off shore drilling because of the negative effect it would have on Florida’s economy.

Sales of manual -- or push reel -- mowers with the cartwheeling blades are on the rise this year as gas becomes more expensive.

Real estate giants gathered in New York City on Thursday for the Bank of America Homebuilder Conference.  CNBC has the highlights from the conference.

Oil supply from countries outside OPEC, source of three in every five barrels, is stalling this year and may even decline, keeping the heat under record-high oil prices.

Ernesto Evangelista prefers to pump premium gas into his seven-month-old Nissan Titan, thinking it makes the truck run better.

U.S. and Chinese officials agreed Wednesday to launch negotations on a bilateral investment treaty and to expand their cooperation on energy and environmental issues, but differences remained on how quickly Beijing should liberalize its markets

Several new products on the market aim to replace interest payments (and high reverse mortgage costs) with an unknown share of future profits.

CNBC asked real estate experts for their insight on the economy, the housing market and commercial real estate.

Parts of Australia's key Murray-Darling river food bowl may be beyond recovery unless a prolonged dry spell and political wrangling over water use ends by October, a leaked scientific report warned on Wednesday.