The year 1973 marked the first time that Atlanta, one of the cultural centers of the South, has hosted the Cryogenic Engineering Conference since its beginning in 1954. The Cryogenic Engineering Conference gratefully acknowledges the hospital­ ity of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the assistance of W. T. Ziegler and his staff in making the visit to Atlanta a pleasant and memorable one. Several significant changes were initiated at the 1973 Cryogenic Engineering Conference. These included a Conference theme on the subject of "Energy and the Environment," a new Conference format, and the beginning of a new Conference frequency of biennial meetings. While retaining the traditional topics of previous meetings, the 1973 Cryogenic Engineering Conference focused on the role of cryo­ genic engineering in the generation, distribution, and conversion of energy, and the related environmental effects. In these areas, much of the current interest stems from the environmental effects of LNG and liquid hydrogen as compared with other competing energy forms. These rapidly expanding areas may provide the impetus to cryogenic engineering in the 1970's that the space program provided in the 1960's. The Conference format was altered by the use of numerous invited papers highlighting the theme. These presentations were concentrated in plenary sessions initiating each day's activities, and in seminars designed to summarize the various aspects of the theme.