This paper reviews research related to energy methods for earthquake-resistant design of structures, with an emphasis on the most recent developments, which for the first time consider all the stages of the seismic energy flow, starting from the earthquake source, and including the effects of the soil-structure interaction. Results are presented for five case studies (four reinforced concrete buildings and one steel structure). For these buildings, the correspondence between the total incident wave energy and the sum of all energies associated with the response of their soil-structure systems is analyzed. Some elementary aspects of design, based on the power of the incident wave pulses, are discussed. It is shown how this power can be compared with the capacity of the structure to absorb the incident wave energy. The advantages of using the computed power of incident strong motion to design a structure for linear or for partially destructive relative response are discussed.