Photovoltaics and the National Park Service : an institutional analysis

On cover: Energy Laboratory Utility Systems Program.This paper is one of a series resulting from institutional analysis of photovoltaic (PV) acceptance. The case reported here involves the acceptance of PV by the National Park Service. As part of the Department of the Interior, the NPS is an agency exemplifying the federal non- defense sector. A modified.organizational set model which concentrates on exchanges between and among organizational set elements, was used in this study. Though initially the inquiry from the Department of Energy to NPS to do a PV field test at a NPS site was considered the perturba- tion prompter, preliminary exploration showed an earlier perturbation-- the need for energy conservation. The differentiations which followed on this perturbation provided an envelope within which PV was subsequently considered and accepted. This envelope made an otherwise incompre- hensible innovation more comprehensible by its association with an ongoing routine of acceptance of energy conservation initiatives. The critical role of the NPS's Denver Service Center as an innovation mediator is described. The DSC serves such a function routinely for the NPS, a reality which greatly enhances the likelihood of acceptance of innovations disseminated through this institutional entity

A simultaneous preference reporting methodology applied to the Nebraska agricultural community

Prepared for the United States Dept. of Energy under Contract no. EX-76-A-01-2295, Task order 37.One of a series of publications which are part of the institutional analysis research conducted under the Department of Energy's Photovoltaic (PV) Program, this paper describes the Simultaneous Preference Reporting Methodology and reports the results of collecting data in conjunction with an agricultural field test of PV in rlead, Nebraska. The authors find that in the Nebraska Agricultural Community, PV is an undifferentiated innovation. They also conclude that the Simultaneous Preference Reporting Methodology is a promising diagnostic and predictive tool regarding the acceptance of institutional innovation