White House goes solar

(ADPnews) – Oct 6, 2010 – Underscoring its commitment to sustainability, the administration of US president Barack Obama revealed plans to have a solar system up and running on the White House roof by next spring.

The announcement was made by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley at a federally-sponsored GreenGov Symposium at George Washington University.

The project involves the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity and a solar hot water heater on the White House Residence.

This was welcome news for the solar industry and environmentalists.

“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,” Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said in a statement.

Bill McKibben, founder of the international green group 350, called the panels “a powerful symbol to the whole nation about where the future lies.”

“The president will wake up every morning and make his toast by the power of the sun,” he added.

The White House’s journey in solar power began back in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter unveiled a bank of thirty-two solar hot water (thermal) collectors on the building’s roof. 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.

Then in 2002, the George W. Bush administration placed a 9 kW array of some 167 panels on a small building tucked away on the White House grounds.

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