The Oil Drum

Thats one of the articles I linked to at the top of this post. But you are right - lots of work done on net energy analysis in 70s and early 80s when the front energy burner seemed hot. (Odum, Berndt, Hall, Cleveland, Costanza, Herendeen, etc.) This work transitioned more broadly into Life Cycle Analysis, which isn't necessarily about energy, and now 25 years later far fewer papers on biophysical principles / net energy analysis are being published, though Cutler and Charlie and some others are still banging the drum. It seems the conventional economists have won the battle, but will lose the war. 70s energy crisis was dress rehearsal for what we are now facing.

Here is a piece on Encyclopedia of Earth that is a bit more academic but very detailed and informative on net energy analysis.