From SERI to NREL: A National Laboratory Origin Story

Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast

In this episode, hosts Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle take us on a journey through time exploring the origins of NREL. Beginning with the establishment in 1973 of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) after the oil embargo, SERI soon expanded into wind and other renewable technologies.
The hosts discuss a dynamic journey marked by political changes, budget fluctuations, technological breakthroughs, and influential leadership shifts that shaped SERI's transformation into NREL in 1991, marking a pivotal moment in the laboratory's history.

This episode was hosted by Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle, written and produced by Allison Montroy and Kaitlyn Stottler, and edited by James Wilcox, Joe DelNero, and Brittany Falch. Graphics are by Brittnee Gayet. Our title music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino of Drift BC. Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast is created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. We express our gratitude and acknowledge that the land we are on is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples. Email us at [e-mail]. Follow NREL on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, and Facebook.