Abstract
It is appropriate to present a volume on household energyconditions at this time. Although headlines suggest that theenergy crisis has faded for the West, the conditions whichengendered the crisis rcmain. The world’s fossil fuel endow-ment is being depleted at slower rates now than in the early1970s, but our ability to substitute alternative energy re-sources, e.g.,.biomass, wind, solar, and to conservc existingones has not kept pace. U.S. and European energy consump-tion continues to outpace additions to reserves.
