Not many economists were very interested in the field of energy during the fifties. In the sixties, we started changing a little bit because it became obvious to certain interested parties that things weren't as they should be in the energy field. Then in the seventies the picture changed completely. Now everybody is interested in energy. The big blackout on the East Coast a few years ago made me, as well as millions of other people, aware of the fact that something was going wrong. While the sociologists tried to figure out why birth rates in New York City in creased nine months after the blackout, economists as well as scientists and engin eers tried to figure out how to prevent such disasters in the future.