Page 90 - ISES SWC50

William (Bill) Duff

Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1972
Title of Research: Solar Heating, Cooling, Hot Water, IPH and Electric
Power
University: Colorado State University Solar Energy Applications
Laboratory
Still Active in Research: Yes

William Duff’s solar energy career began in 1972, prior to large-scale Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) deployments,
when his university was awarded a substantial National Science Foundation grant to identify solar thermal electric
power systems (STEPS) delivering low cost electricity. Bill’s approach optimized large-scale STEPS for flat plate,
line focus, point focus and tower/heliostat solar collector concepts, accurately depicting installations in operation
today. His approach required original research to create uniform parameterized performance and cost models. One
of these was recognized by SPIE as one of the decade’s best research contributions in optics. Bill’s more than
three decades long leadership in evacuated collector research began with a joint US/German project to evaluate
US and German manufactured evacuated collectors in installations in both countries. During a sabbatical year with
Philips Research Laboratories in Germany, he was selected to lead the ten-year eleven country International Energy
Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Program Task VI where various evacuated collectors were tested in different
installations. Seven years of leadership in Task XIV’s Advanced Active Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems ensued.
Bill spent more than five years with Roland Winston’s group at the University of Chicago’s Fermi Institute where they
developed a novel integral CPC (ICPC) configuration compatible with evacuated tubular collectors. He fabricated
and tested these ICPCs under NREL funding. Concurrently he brought together multiple funding sources and fellow
researchers to form the Sacramento Demonstration installation to evaluate this concept. Other accomplishments
include decades of solar residential and industrial building testing; economic and materials assessment; MOS PV
cell, computer simulation, workshops and passive solar water pasteurization development; a Solar Energy Journal
Associate Editorship; nearly 200 journal and conference papers published; more than 100 PhD and Masters students
graduated; two solar energy companies founded and membership on various BODs.

John Paul Eberhard (Deceased)
Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1973
Title of Research: The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Research
Corporation
University: The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Research
Corporation
Still Active in Research: No

In 1973, John Paul Eberhard, FAIA, as President, transformed The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Research
Corporation to focus on energy conservation. With a fledging budget of $50,000 from the Ford Foundation, he
built AIARC into a $10M organization with more than 60 staff by 1978. He took this small arm of national AIA, that
hardly anyone even knew about, and made it into an organization that explored solar and wind energy alternatives,
urban planning issues and energy use, and influenced the use of “energy conscious design” educational programs
in 350 firms across the U.S. Further information on John P. Eberhard’s life and achievements can be found on the
website http://www.anfarch.org/grants/founding-president-john-p-eberhard-passes-away-at-93/.

72 | ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions