(1972) ENERGY AND ECONOMIC MYTHS**This paper represents the substance of a lecture delivered on November 8, 1972, at Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, within the series Limits to Growth: The Equilibrium State and Human Society, as well as on numerous other occasions elsewhere. During July 1973 a version prepared for a planned volume of the series was distributed as a working document to the members of the Commission on Natural Resources and the Committee on Mineral Resources and the Environment (National Research Council). The present version contains a few recent amendments.