The Phoenix Sun

Vice-Admiral Dennis McGinn testifying before the Select Committee, December 10, 2010

In April, 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi created a congressional committee to address three of the most pressing issues of the day: climate change, economic prosperity (in the form of jobs), and national security. Today, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, issued a final report. After three-and-a-half years, 80 hearings and briefings with hundreds of experts testifying, the committee is no more. It will not continue in the Republican-controlled House.

Which is too bad, because the three challenges — climate change, jobs, national security — remain as daunting today as they were in 2007. In many ways, the problems have grown over time.

Since the committee was first gavelled into session, American’s have spent $1.3 trillion on imported oil. Our jobless rate was 4.6 percent in 2007; in December, that figure stood at 9.8 percent. And the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has gone from 385 to 388.59 parts per million in these three plus years.

The committee report on this nexus should be required reading for all Americans — particularly those individuals convening in the nation’s capitol this week, as part of the 112th Congress.

Final Report, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming -

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.”

President Obama at Florida solar plant opening

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.

October 2, 2010

Radio Address, transcript:

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.

For decades, we’ve talked about the importance of ending our dependence on foreign oil and pursuing new kinds of energy, like wind and solar power. But for just as long, progress had been prevented at every turn by the special interests and their allies in Washington.

So, year after year, our dependence on foreign oil grew. Families have been held hostage to spikes in gas prices. Good manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. And we’ve seen companies produce new energy technologies and high-skilled jobs not in America, but in countries like China, India and Germany.

…There is no industry with more potential to create jobs now – and growth in the coming years – than clean energy.

It was essential – for our economy, our security, and our planet – that we finally tackle this challenge. That is why, since we took office, my administration has made an historic commitment to promote clean energy technology. This will mean hundreds of thousands of new American jobs by 2012. Jobs for contractors to install energy-saving windows and insulation. Jobs for factory workers to build high-tech vehicle batteries, electric cars, and hybrid trucks. Jobs for engineers and construction crews to create wind farms and solar plants that are going to double the renewable energy we can generate in this country. These are jobs building the future.

BrightSource solar plant (artist's conception)

For example, I want share with you one new development, made possible by the clean energy incentives we have launched. This month, in the Mojave Desert, a company called BrightSource plans to break ground on a revolutionary new type of solar power plant. It’s going to put about a thousand people to work building a state-of-the-art facility. And when it’s complete, it will turn sunlight into the energy that will power up to 140,000 homes – the largest such plant in the world. Not in China. Not in India. But in California.

With projects like this one, and others across this country, we are staking our claim to continued leadership in the new global economy. And we’re putting Americans to work producing clean, home-grown American energy that will help lower our reliance on foreign oil and protect our planet for future generations.

Now there are some in Washington who want to shut them down. In fact, in the Pledge they recently released, the Republican leadership is promising to scrap all the incentives for clean energy projects, including those currently underway – even with all the jobs and potential that they hold.

This doesn’t make sense for our economy. It doesn’t make sense for Americans who are looking for jobs. And it doesn’t make sense for our future. To go backwards and scrap these plans means handing the competitive edge to China and other nations. It means that we’ll grow even more dependent on foreign oil. And, at a time of economic hardship, it means forgoing jobs we desperately need. In fact, shutting down just this one project would cost about a thousand jobs.

That’s what’s at stake in this debate. We can go back to the failed energy policies that profited the oil companies but weakened our country. We can go back to the days when promising industries got set up overseas. Or we can go after new jobs in growing industries. And we can spur innovation and help make our economy more competitive. We know the choice that’s right for America. We need to do what we’ve always done – put our ingenuity and can do spirit to work to fight for a brighter future.

Thanks.

Fact Sheet on the President’s Clean Energy Radio Address