The Phoenix Sun

Energy Sec Steven Chu & CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley announcing White House plan to "go solar" (Photo: William Atkins, the George Washington University)

The Obama administration has announced plans to install solar panels on the White House. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley made the announcement this morning during a federally-sponsored GreenGov Symposium at George Washington University.

The White House solar array should be in place by next spring and will included both solar PV panels to generate electricity and a solar hot water heater on the White House Residence.

“By installing solar panels on arguably the most famous house in the country, his residence, the President is underscoring that commitment to lead and the promise and importance of renewable energy in the United States.”

- Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair, Nancy Sutley, 5 October 2010

The announcement comes after a two-year campaign by renewable energy advocates concerned about climate change, urging Obama to install solar power on the White House. Most recently, author Bill McKibben made the journey to the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave with a solar hot water panel that President Jimmy Carter had installed on the presidential roof in June 1979. (The White House was non-committal about accepting the panel at the time.) While solar PV panels were (quietly) installed during the George W. Bush years, they were placed on a maintenance shed — not on the mansion itself. When the PV panels go up in the spring, it will be the first time the White House itself will generate electricity from rooftop panels.

Members of McKibben's group '350' urge Obama to go solar

McKibben was exuberant about the news this morning. He called the panels “a powerful symbol to the whole nation about where the future lies,” adding that “the president will wake up every morning and make his toast by the power of the sun (do presidents make toast?), which will be a constant reminder to be pushing the Congress for the kind of comprehensive reform we need.”

McKibben is the author of The End of Nature, one of the first popular books about global warming, and founder of the international group, 350.

The announcement also drew praise from the solar power industry.

“Putting solar on the roof of the nation’s most important home is a powerful symbol calling on all Americans to rethink how we create energy,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) in a statement. “It’s an example of how each one of us can improve energy security, employ Americans and cut energy costs. I can speak from personal experience that taxpayers will benefit. In the four years since I’ve had solar on my house, I’ve gotten a better return on my solar system than on my 401(k).”

Like McKibben, Resch advocated solar power for the First Home on a visit there this year.

At a Rose Garden event commemorating Earth Day in April, Resch “point[ed] out to the President the large amount of available roof space on top of the White House, baking in the sun.”

At today’s announcement, Secretary Chu stressed the economic benefits of renewable energy.

“This project reflects President Obama’s strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home,” he said. “Deploying solar energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come.”

Chu was repeating a theme highlighted by the president in his weekly radio address last Saturday:

“Over the past twenty months, we’ve been fighting not just to create more jobs today, but to rebuild our economy on a stronger foundation. Our future as a nation depends on making sure that the jobs and industries of the 21st century take root here in America. And there is perhaps no industry with more potential to create jobs now – and growth in the coming years – than clean energy.”

Today’s announcement is the latest installment in a solar story set at the White House, a tale in which symbolism has usually conformed with reality.

President Jimmy Carter unveiled a bank of thirty-two solar hot water (thermal) collectors on the White House roof on June 20, 1979. The move was largely seen as a reaction to the first “oil shock” — when the price of gasoline skyrocketed and caused shortages and long lines at the pump.

George Szego, head of the company that installed the solar collectors, said in a 2006 interview, that “the collectors were cranking out hot water a mile a minute.”

First solar panels being installed on the White House, 1979.

The symbolism was matched by a large federal investment in solar R&D through the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), which was headed by Denis Hayes, the organizer of the first Earth Day. But when Ronald Reagan came into office, the solar panels came down — and funding of SERI was slashed.

“Reagan felt that the equipment was just a joke,” recalled Szego.

Solar power didn’t make a comeback at the White House until the summer of 2002 — and then the George W. Bush administration didn’t go public with the news and it wasn’t reported widely until 2003.

A 9 kW array of some 167 panels were placed on small building tucked away on the White House grounds.

In addition, two hot water systems were added — one on a maintenance shed and one on the White House cabana which sits next to the pool and spa.

The Washington Post, writing seven months after-the-fact, pointed out that to see the panels “you would have to climb to near the top of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.”

Now, comes the Obama administration’s announcement, with solar rooftop installations at an all-time high.

Writing in his EnergyBlog this morning, Steven Chu made it clear that the new solar array is meant to be seen — by the widest possible audience:

“Around the world, the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy. It should also be a symbol of America’s commitment to a clean energy future.”

For information on rebates and incentives for solar and other renewable energy installations, see here.

President Jimmy Carter showing off the new White House solar panels, 1979.

As a special Fourth of July treat, here’s a sampler of some intriguing Web-based graphics related to solar power. Think of it as candy for the eye, brain and spirit.

Led by Amory Lovins, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has been promoting smarter energy policies and practices for decades. The graphic above comes from RMI’s Flash-video that uses a scrolling timeline marked with key historic events and “pipelines” that change size over time so that viewers can get a sense of how much oil the United States has imported, from where, over three and a half decades. Beautiful and revealing.

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In 2003, Writer/activist Bill McKibben wrote a wonderful piece about how instant feedback effects human behavior. In “My Mileage is Better than Your Mileage,” McKibben discussed his obsession with the real-time MPG readout on the dashboard of his Toyota Prius. Was it driven by his passion to fight global warming? he asked, rhetorically.

.. continue reading ..

House Bill could help solar & other renewables reach grid parity

Since the first session of congress was convened in New York City’s Federal Hall on March 4, 1789, the United States has seen 110 such gatherings (we are currently into the fourth month of the 111th congress), some more momentous than others.

Historians will disagree about which congresses were the most consequential. It’s a hard call, with so many critical issues decided — or deferred — over the past 220 years.

By repealing the Missouri Compromise in 1854, the 33rd Congress set America on the path to a bloody Civil War.

On the positive side, the 57th-61st Congresses passed a slew of “Progressive” legislation, regulating the nation’s food and drugs, preserving forest and other lands and placing the all-powerful railroads under government supervision.

The Congresses that made the New Deal a reality (73rd-75th) shaped the modern world that will still live in today.

The Waxman-Markey bill is a significant first step at the federal level to allow solar power to reach “grid parity.” Finally, the price of polluting energy sources will approach their true cost.

The 111th Congress

There are good reasons to believe that our current congress may join those of the New Deal and the Progressive Era on future historian’s lists of congresses that shaped America’s policies and fortunes for generations to come.

The 111th has several features in common with the two periods above. In all cases, a single political party controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. I agree with the importance of bipartisanship, but, at least sometimes, history appears to argue against it.

Under Teddy Roosevelt, Republicans ran the show during the Progressive era — and our nation is better because of it. Democrats controlled both houses of congress and had a strong leader in FDR during the New Deal.

Today, a single party once again dominates the political landscape with a president who possesses the charisma and dynamism of the two Roosevelts.

Perhaps the most important similarity linking these congresses is that all of them began with the country gripped by a crisis. TR inherited the presidency when a self-professed anarchist assassinated President William McKinley. Decades of corruption and worker exploitation by “Robber Barons” had turned many Americans into cynics and provided revolutionaries with evidence for their claims that business was the enemy. TR believed that he needed to save capitalism from its own excesses, or face the potential for outright rebellion.

FDR, of course, took office as the Great Depression was ravaging every corner of the nation. Foreclosures put masses of people out on the streets, jobs evaporated, America went from lavish wealth to poverty and illness seemingly overnight. In other words: it was a lot like the nation Barack Obama leads today.

Today (Tuesday, May 5), President Obama is scheduled to meet with Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss progress in writing a bill to reduce the nation’s GHG emissions.

At last.

Years have been lost to a sham debate over climate change. Whether or not the earth is warming. And if it is warming, whether or not humans play any role in the change. And if we do, how big a factor is human activity? And if it’s large, is that necessarily bad?

For the skeptics, the issue was never really about science. It was about political ideology.

A 2008 analysis of books written by environmental and climate skeptics found that 92% of the authors were affiliated with conservative think tanks. The journal article concluded that,

skepticism is a tactic of an elite-driven counter-movement designed to combat environmentalism, and that the successful use of this tactic has contributed to the weakening of the US commitment to environmental protection...

Any attempt to pass meaningful federal regulations of GHG emissions will have to overcome several hurdles. Democratic committee members from coal-mining regions don’t want to sign on to any measure that could further depress their already dismal state economies, and, not incidentally, anger many of their biggest donors.

Some Republican House members claim that the threat of global warming is nothing compared to the danger of the energy bill itself.

John Shimkus of Illinois, for example, called the bill, “the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I have ever experience,” and said that the cap-and-trade provisions scared him more than the events of 9/11.

Many in Congress prefer to indulge in histrionics rather than rise to this moment in history. The bill still fighting for its life in a subcommittee is likely to be the most significant piece of legislation to come before this congress — and many more to come.

What are its chances?

In a recent interview about the bill, author/activist Bill McKibben was at his pragmatic best:

“For the moment,” he said, “I am not spending my time being either optimistic or pessimistic. I am just working.”

Good advice. Call or write your Congressperson and let them know you expect them to get to work, too.

Check to see if your Congressperson is on the Subcommittee