The U.S. Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act was put in place in 1974 in recognition of the U.S.'s heavy dependence on petroleum from other countries.  In part, the Act created two programs: the Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project and the Solar Energy Research Institute.

The purpose of the Act was to direct the federal government to become involved more thoroughly in research on all forms of solar energy and to seriously consider its use as a primary energy source.  These forms include solar thermal energy, photovoltaic energy, and energy from wind and photosynthesis.

The Act established the Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project, a small committee of people drawn from other government agencies concerned with science, energy, and urban development.  This program was to coordinate solar research, development, and demonstration.  It was also to survey possible resources and technologies for further use and to place this information in the publicly accessible Solar Energy Information Data Bank.

The Solar Energy Research Institute, renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 1991, was created to carry out the projects of the Coordination and Management Project.  It studies production of renewable energy, as well as their various applications.

Throughout the decade that followed passage of the Act, the federal government spent $6 billion on the study and promotion of solar energy.  Eventually, solar energy displaced roughly $36 billion worth of petroleum usage.  However, interest in solar energy dropped in the 1980s due to availability of cheap petroleum and cuts in government spending.

American Solar Energy Society

Resources on solar energy

The Solar Energy International