The Energy Problem — Its Effect on Aircraft Design: Part 2. The Effects of Fuel Cost

In these days of soaring fuel prices, it seems almost a paradox to assert that the cost of energy is zero. Yet it is plainly true that energy in its ‘raw state’, for instance crude oil in its subterranean cavities, costs man‐kind precisely nothing. It is equally true of every form of energy, whether it be solar or hydro or nuclear or geothermal, or any of the other fossil fuels, such as coal or gas. All of them in their original form are provided by mother nature entirely without charge.