  We discuss an efficient approach to the calculation of the internal energy in
numerical simulations of spin systems with long-range interactions. Although,
since the introduction of the Luijten-Bl\"ote algorithm, Monte Carlo
simulations of these systems no longer pose a fundamental problem, the energy
calculation is still an O(N^2) problem for systems of size N. We show how this
can be reduced to an O(N logN) problem, with a break-even point that is already
reached for very small systems. This allows the study of a variety of, until
now hardly accessible, physical aspects of these systems. In particular, we
combine the optimized energy calculation with histogram interpolation methods
to investigate the specific heat of the Ising model and the first-order regime
of the three-state Potts model with long-range interactions.
