An Elegy for NREL and the Passing of America’s Renewable Compass - CleanTechnica

The article "An Elegy for NREL and the Passing of America’s Renewable Compass" from CleanTechnica reflects on the renaming of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to the National Laboratory of the Rockies, interpreting this change as a symbolic retreat from the U.S.'s historic commitment to renewable energy leadership. Established in the late 1970s as the Solar Energy Research Institute in response to oil shocks, and renamed NREL in 1991, the lab played a pivotal role in advancing clean energy technologies and shaping global energy markets and policies. Its mission was to make clean energy cheaper, better, and more abundant, a goal it largely achieved through decades of influential research and innovation. NREL’s contributions are deeply embedded in modern renewable energy systems. It provided critical standards and validation tools, such as the solar cell efficiency chart, which became a global benchmark for photovoltaic progress. The lab also advanced wind energy through modeling tools that improved turbine design, performance, and deployment speed. Beyond