AbstractThe limit volumic electrostatic energy of a crystal lattice of point charges is compared to the Born‐Landé expression and to the Ewald energy. Conditions are given about the existence of these energies, and the results are expressed in an integral form; a second integral form is obtained by application of Plancherel's theorem. The volumic electrostatic energy depends on the surface of the crystal (owing to the long‐range I/rdependence of the electrostatic energy). Information about the atomic configuration of the surface of the crystal, is obtained by minimization of the volumic energy (the minimum being the Ewald ene