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
