“Sunny Days and Solar Ways” Chapter Shows the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Roots

By National Renewable Energy Laboratory Director Martin Keller

It’s no surprise that the first chapter of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) book Clean Energy Innovators: NREL People Working to Change the World is about solar energy.

Because while NREL research covers every field in clean energy, our roots go back to the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). SERI was founded in Colorado in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter. In a later chapter, one of SERI’s first employees gives her firsthand account of President Carter’s visit to SERI on rainy Sun Day, May 3, 1978. Clearly, solar energy research is at our core.

Here’s a link for a free PDF.

That’s one reason we chose to put a whimsical picture on the cover of Clean Energy Innovators of our staff watching a solar eclipse in 2017: the sun has been a major focus of our mission.

This excerpt from the initial chapter, “Sunny Days and Solar Ways Starting at the Solar Research Institute,” written by Ernie Tucker, will give you sense of that strong solar bond as we introduce some of our solar explorers:

“A suburban Chicago kid who discovered a passion for solar energy research at Notre Dame University. A young mother and dance lover in Washington, D.C., who joined SERI as an executive administrator but made the leap to operating a spectroscope during a 40-year career. A Maine forestry major turned photovoltaic (PV) pioneer. A reluctant piano student whose Harvard advisor mentioned to her a place in Colorado harnessing the sun.

These are some of the innovators who sought out SERI and, over the course of more than four decades, transformed a nation’s hopes for energy independence into a world of startling solar capabilities. The progress of their journey is found in technical achievements known worldwide.

At first, there was a small pool of visionaries who wanted to tackle the single biggest source of energy. These scientists and their many associates helped solar energy move from a novelty to a major energy source in the United States and across much of the world.

And woven through it all is a single thread: Kaz. For many years, Lawrence L. Kazmerski, better known simply as ‘Kaz,’ provided a through-line for SERI’s solar research. To understand Kaz is to understand how SERI evolved— creating and recording a legacy of records—and, in his case, colorful sun-themed neckties and scarves.”

I could go on, urging you to dip into all the tales of the exceptional men and women whose journeys bring me joy. The solar chater provides a good sampling:

• There’s Sarah Kurtz, who almost taught piano but instead ended up in tune with the changes in photovoltaics and surprising findings—such as that tossed beer bottles and gunshots can cause the failures of solar modules more often than expected.
• Or Dave Ginley recalling his days as a boy who, in his own words, “got hooked in pyrotechnics” with his chemistry kit and for whom “things kind of went awry” a few times when he tested a model rocket in his family’s Denver basement.
• And Nancy Haegel, a semiconductor leader who contributed to light detectors on a NASA space telescope and later joined NREL in part to guide the next generation, calling herself the “grease” to help our research projects move ahead with less friction.

I hope you see for yourself what this group has contributed and what all of our solar researchers continue to discover. And throughout the 202 pages of words and pictures in Clean Energy Innovators, we hope you and others, especially the younger generation who care deeply about climate change, are inspired and informed.

Next time, I will preview the “Wild West of Wind” chapter about our wind energy contributions. Meanwhile, please join me on the journeys of an exceptional group of people.