The present paper examines failure in discrete granular media with respect to its mode and nature based on energetic considerations through a comprehensive discrete element modelling computational analysis. The mode of failure refers to whether deformations will localize into an intense shear band or be diffuse. More subtly, a given failure mode can be effective with a burst of kinetic energy, or non-effective with a more controlled release of kinetic energy, depending on the control parameter. Physical quantities based on energy considerations with elementary decompositions of externally applied energy into elastic, plastic and kinetic contributions at the particle level are computed for a number of granular assemblies under a variety of failure scenarios. With the picture of a particle system experiencing macroscopic deformations according to underlying micro- and meso-mechanisms, it is concluded that computed grain-energy components depend on the microstructural detail that emerges as a function of loading program and control parameter. The relationship between elastic unloading outside a shear band and plastic dissipation inside it under both strain and stress control modes determines the genesis of shear banding in terms of plastic work dissipation minimization. Most interestingly, it is found that the energy signature inside the shear band in a dense granular packing is germane to energy characteristics of diffuse failure in a loose assembly, suggesting some similarities in microscopic failure processes between shear banding and diffuse failure.