The flame initiation of an infinite fuel system exposed to a planar ignition kernel has been investigated numerically. The aim has been to promote an understanding of the flame initiation by using the simplest mathematical formulation which retains the essential physical features. It has been found that there exists a minimum ignition energy below which a combustion wave cannot be initiated. For a fixed value of Lewis number, the same flame progation velocity has been obtained irregardless of the amount ignition energy supplied. Furthermore, for a fixed energy input there is a maximum Lewis number over which the flame cannot be initiated.