Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act (1974)

Following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war in 1973, Arab oil-producing states imposed an embargo on oil exports to the United States. The embargo lasted from October 1973 to March 1974, and the long gas lines it caused highlighted the United States' dependence on foreign petroleum . Congress responded by enacting the Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1974.

The act stated that it was henceforth the policy of the federal government to "pursue a vigorous and viable program of research and resource assessment of solar energy as a major source of energy for our national needs." The act's scope embraced all energy sources which are renewable by the sun—including solar thermal energy, photovoltaic energy, and energy derived from wind, sea thermal gradients, and photosynthesis .To achieve its goals, the act established two programs: the Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project and the Solar Energy Research Institute.

The Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project consisted of six members, five of whom were drawn from other federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Power Commission , NASA, and the Atomic Energy Commission . Congress intended that the project would coordinate national solar energy research, development, and demonstration projects, and would survey resources and technologies available for solar energy production. This information was to be placed in a Solar Energy Information Data Bank and made available to those involved in solar energy development.

Over the decade following the passage of the act in 1974, the United States government spent $4 billion on research in solar and other renewable energy technologies. During the same period, the government spent an additional $2 billion on tax incentives to promote these alternatives. According to a U.S. Department of Energy report issued in 1985, these efforts displaced petroleum worth an estimated $36 billion.

Despite the promise of solar energy in the 1970s and the fear of reliance on foreign petroleum, spending on renewable energy sources in the United States declined dramatically during the 1980s. Several factors combined during that decade to weaken the federal government's commitment to solar power, including the availability of inexpensive petroleum and the skeptical attitudes of the Reagan and Bush administrations, which were distrustful of governmentsponsored initiatives and concerned about government spending.

To carry out the research and development initiatives of the Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project, the act also established the Solar Energy Research Institute, located in Golden, Colorado. In 1991, the Solar Energy Research Institute was renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and made a part of the national laboratory system. The laboratory continues to conduct research in the production of solar energy and energy from other renewable sources. In addition, the laboratory studies applications of solar energy. For example, it has worked on a project using solar energy to detoxify soil contaminated with hazardous wastes.

[L. Carol Ritchie ]

RESOURCES

PERIODICALS

"Federal R&D Funding for Solar Technologies." Solar Industry Journal (First Quarter 1992).

"Photovoltaics." Solar Industry Journal (First Quarter 1992).

OTHER

Solar Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-473, 88 Stat. 1431 (1974), codified at 42 U.S.C. 5551, et seq. (1988).