Comprehensive understanding of cellular processes requires development of approaches which consider the energetic balances in the cell. The existing approaches that address this problem are based on defining energy-equivalent costs which do not include the effects of a changing environment. By incorporating these effects, one could provide a framework for integrating omics data from various levels of the system in order to provide interpretations with respect to the energy state and to elicit conclusions about putative global energy-related response mechanisms in the cell.