Page 110 - ISES SWC50

Daniel Reif
Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1979
Title of Research: Solar Retrofit
University: Total Environmental Action (TEA) and Center for Ecological
Technology (CET)
Still Active in Research: No

Daniel Reif is author of the books “Solar Retrofit: Adding Solar To Your Home” (Brick House Publishing Co., 1981),
and “Passive Solar Water Heaters” (Brick House Publishing Co., 1983). In 1982, he founded Design Works, Inc., in
Amherst, Massachusetts, to market his invention the “Solar Card,” a low cost solar siting and shading evaluation
device. The Solar Card was also popular as a gardening and photography tool. The following year, he invented and
marketed the “3-D Home Kit,” a three-dimensional, custom model building kit to help homeowners and designers
integrate passive solar into their house designs. The kit provides complete poster-board materials with illustrations
of various model building materials to construct a detailed, 1/4-inch scale model of your own design. A light is then
used to simulate the movement of the sun. The “3-D Home Kit” is still a bestselling architectural design and education
tool. Reif’s early solar training, design and building experience was as a team member at Total Environmental Action
(TEA) in Harrisville, New Hampshire and Center for Ecological Technology (CET) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, New
England Project SUEDE (Solar Utilization, Economic Development and Employment). He currently lives in a passive
solar home that he designed and built in 1980 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Reif graduated from Pratt Institute
School of Architecture in 1971.

Dave Renné ISES President 2010-2019
Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1977
Title of Research: Solar and Wind Resource Assessments
University: American Institute of Architects (AIA) Research Corporation
Still Active in Research: Yes

DaveRenné has worked in renewable energy R&D programs for over 43 years. After graduating from Colorado
State University (Fort Collins, Colorado, USA) with a Masters in Atmospheric Sciences and a PhD in Earth Resources
in 1975, he started his renewable energy career at the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland,
Washington USA) in 1977. He worked primarily on wind resource assessment programs, both in the U.S. and
internationally. He was one of the early program area leaders to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind
Characteristics Program Element. He focused on wind resource assessments, wind monitoring programs, and wind
turbine wake studies. He moved to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado USA) in
1991 to manage NREL’s solar resource assessment activities and to work on a number of international renewable
energy programs. He managed the development of the National Solar Radiation Database, first produced in the
mid-1990’s, and subsequently updated several times. He introduced the use of satellite-derived solar resource
estimates into the NSRDB as well as other solar resource programs at NREL. Following his retirement in 2012 he
continues to remain engaged in renewable energy programs through his consultancy, Dave Renné Renewables. He
is currently a Senior Consultant to Clean Power Research, and has consulted with the World Bank, the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Asian Development Bank, and several private-sector organizations. He
was involved in the early development of the Word Bank’s Global Solar Atlas as well as the IRENA Global Atlas. He
served as Treasurer on the Board of the American Solar Energy Society for many years. From 2010 – 2019 he was
President of the International Solar Energy Society and continues to serve on their Board. He has been an Associate
Editor of the Solar Energy Journal for the past 15 years.

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