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The Nation's Newest Lab
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20655 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1992 |
3,086 Words |
| Author
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Harvey Moore
Harvey Moore is a free-lance writer and consultant with RDD
Consultants in Boulder, Colorado. He also teaches English as a
second language to visiting scientists working in Boulder. |
Located in Golden, Colorado, just west of Denver, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is temporarily housed in a multifaceted office part. Most of its labs are in three-storied, natural brick buildings enclosing large, well landscaped lawn complete with pine trees, natural rock fountains, and pools. New, permanent labs are being constructed just across the freeway in a meadow that will soon house the entire NREL complex in its own park and facilities.
The NREL began in 1977 as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) in response to escalating petroleum costs. Scientists there were asked to focus on and develop commercial energy sources as quickly as economically and technical feasible.
Duane Sunderman was named director of SERI and executive vice president of Midwest Research Institute in 1990. MRI is the company that operates SERI for the U.S. Department of Energy. Sunderman represents the facility before the U.S. Department of Energy and other government agencies, as well as the scientific and industrial communities.
SERI was designated a national laboratory and renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in September 1991. During the White House ceremony President Bush observed that the new designation recognized the lab's "important role in strengthening our energy future." NREL is the nation's newest and premier research laboratory for studying and developing clean, safe, and renewable energy sources.
NREL houses scientists and engineers working on basic and applied research focusing on developing renewable energy technology and increasing energy efficiency for four primary uses: buildings, industry, transportation, and utilities. Its researchers are involved in a variety of diverse programs. On a sun porch in the new lab is a long water-filled trough used to conduct innovative genetic research encouraging algae to produce a lipid substitute for petroleum. In the main part, the development of photovoltaic technology to produce economically competitive electric power is just down the hall from scientists developing wind turbines that will cut utility fuel costs. On the floor below, scientists experiment with solar energy as a means of removing toxic chemicals from water. Another building houses ongoing research for the conversion of solid waste into fuel.
In spite of all of the theoretical work, NREL scientists are acutely aware that the technology they are developing must be cost
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