Investing successfully in energy involves a lot of research into many different aspects of energy production and consumption. You can invest in commodities such as coal, oil, and natural gas, or you can purchase stock in an oil company or a company that builds natural gas power plants. You need to keep an eye on not only the energy markets but also the global economy and the news of the day.

It’s important to define energy, because it’s important to know the nature and scope of a market you’ll be putting your hard-earned dollars into. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of energy breaks it down into several parts. Energy Has a dynamic quality Is a vigorous exertion of power Is a fundamental entity of nature that is transferred between parts of a system in the production of physical change within the system, and is usually regarded as the capacity for doing work Is usable power (such as heat or electricity) or the resources for producing such power For investment purposes, a combination of the third and fourth definitions is apt.

Given the importance of crude oil derivative products, you can make a lot of money investing in refineries. To be useful, crude oil must be refined into consumable products, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, automotive lubricating oil, propane and kerosene, and a myriad other products. For this reason, refineries are a critical link in the crude oil supply chain.

You've likely heard about the highly controversial subject of hydraulic fracturing — referred to as fracking by today's media — at one point or another within the last few years. But contrary to popular belief, it's only fairly recently that the fractious row began over this drilling technique. Hydraulic fracturing has actually been around for over six decades.

A new discovery in northern Saskatchewan, Canada could quickly become one of the top ten uranium deposits in the world. MacArthur River, also located in Saskatchewan, is widely agreed to be the largest deposit, containing high grades of uranium totaling about 324 million pounds. This new discovery, called Patterson Lake South, has only had a few holes drilled and is already shown to contain around 50 million pounds of uranium at high grade.

There are many reasons to invest in energy and all its related sectors and companies. Energy is always in demand; its use is expected to grow; and investing in energy gives you opportunities to shape the future while earning income. But what, specifically, makes energy a fertile market for investment? The following list provides some insight.

While the use of coal as an energy source may be on the decline in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the Western World, it's growing like gangbusters in Asia. If you aren't careful, geographically-biased news will blind you to one of the biggest developments underway in the energy sector, because news coverage in the Americas and Europe virtually ignore what's happening in the rest of the world with regards to energy production and use.

Renewable energy stocks are on the mend, particularly in the solar space. After a few years of margin erosion, supply gluts, and hostile trade negotiations, solar investors who picked up cheap solar shares towards the end of 2012 are sitting on a mountain of profits today. But the question is, will it last? The answer is yes.

You can get a sense of how a particular sector of the energy market is doing by monitoring an index that tracks the performance of several companies operating within it. For an investor, that's great information to have. Here are some of the most-watched indexes in the energy market: Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Equipment & Services Index Dow Jones U.