ABSTRACT
Energy is perhaps the most significant single quantity defining the world in and around people. Energy has always played an explicit and important role in the development of the civilization, particularly so in the last two centuries. Energy is today only partially a technological problem, as it depends strongly also on socioeconomic and political considerations and, above all, on fundamental choices to be made on the basis of moral value judgments on people's way of life. The economic implications of energy are impressive and far-reaching. Apart from the final commercial cost of energy, something of which people, as consumers, are perfectly aware, the huge investment needed to exploit energy sources must also be considered. The exploitation of a new energy source generally requires huge extracting facilities and power plants, which in themselves absorb large amounts of energy to be set up.
