The Intergalactic Conference on Renewable Energy

Intergalactic Conference on Renewable Energy, National Renewable Energy Lab, Golden, CO

"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a cartographer!"

--Bones McCoy

I've worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for just about 20 years, and this week we were told it's to be renamed the "National Lab of the Rockies." The announcement coincides with something I made 6 years ago to the day, and in these changing times I wanted to offer it as a memento to NREL's history.

This may not be as impressive in a time of easy digital fakery, but way back in December of 2019 I used Photoshop to discreetly insert the Millennium Falcon into a map I was developing of the NREL campus. The first person to notice it scratched his head, squinted his eyes, pointed to the map and said with disbelief, "there's a full-scale model of the Millennium Falcon on campus?!"

Of course not! But I asked myself, what would Han and Chewie be doing at NREL? The answer was that they were here for the Intergalactic Conference on Renewable Energy. Duh. So I spent a few evenings with Photoshop, printed the result as a poster, and realized I had created the ultimate White Elephant gift for our NREL Christmas party. Turned out it had appeal far beyond my group, even far beyond NREL, and has sometimes turned up in surprising places. I hope you'll get a kick out of it, too. 

There are six different sci-fi universes represented here by a dozen different types of ship, and all of them are shown to scale parked on the NREL campus in Golden, Colorado. Feel free to name the specific ships in the comments! Some are pretty easy, others will take a true sci-fi nerd to know the name. There's also a subtle easter egg tucked in there and some fun design choices for anyone really obsessing over the details.

This is not an official National Renewable Energy Laboratory product. It was just me goofing around with maps. Feel free to save and print your own if you're so inclined. The original is 14" tall and 20" wide, and can easily be printed larger with no noticeable loss in image quailty. If you do print and hang it, I'd love to see a photo or at least hear what you think about it. Drop me a line.

Billy Roberts

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Long Live the West.