Energy studies have been an expanding component or sub-category of Development Studies for well over a decade now; this Bulletin explores their treatment of the interactions between energy and poverty. Any description of 'energy studies' would have to grapple with the extreme heterogeneity of the material so defined and, in large part, this is because there are two quite distinct sets of literature - responses to two types of energy crises. These are, of course, the oil price crisis and the biomass crisis. The literature on the first emphasises international trade and balance of payments issues and the linkages to domestic sectors; it is macroeconomic in its policy focus and on the technological front is concerned with conservation of fossil fuels. In stark contrast, the biomass crisis is principally associated with rural domestic woodfuel use; it is typically concerned with analysis at the level of the household and, very often, specifically with the impact of the woodfuel crisis upon poor rural women. Its policy concern is informed by consideration of rural political economy, and its technological front is concerned with the conservation of biomass.