Energy is essential to our Nation and our lives; we use energy to power homes and businesses and to transport people and goods, making it an important component of our economy. Reliable, clean and affordable energy is critical to energy security and our economy. Furthermore, we can reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy by diversifying our energy mix using domestic resources. The U.S. Department of Energy is committed to "discovering the solutions to power and secure America’s future, which include clean energy technologies that not only enhance energy independence but also can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air pollutants." The Department’s robust activities to support the development of solar energy technologies include applied research in support of the Solar America Initiative in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program as well as important exploratory research in the Office of Science. The support of Congress as well as incentives and support from state governments, will be critical to achieving the SAI goals. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.