During the 1970s many “energy solutions” involved attempts to find the best way to reduce energy usage. In many cases, the solutions themselves did not make good economic sense, and, to compensate for that fact, economic assistance was required for their installation. In some cases, economic justification was based on the assumption of continued fuel cost inflation, which subsequent events proved to be unrealistic. However, the programs which promoted these approaches made a valuable contribution — they fostered development of the techniques which expanded the state of the art to that which we see today.