Last month, the White House snubbed a proposal by activists to reinstall one of former President Carter’s solar panels atop the executive mansion.
This was not, however, a snub of solar energy, altogether.
Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Nancy Sutley, and energy secretary, Steven Chu will unveil plans to put photovoltaic solar collectors and a solar hot water heater atop 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Secretary Chu said in a statement:
“This project reflects President Obama’s strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home…Deploying solar energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come.”
President Carter’s solar array was dismantled in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan; but the first President Bush installed a modest solar-charged system to power a maintenance building and heat the White House swimming pool.
The solar power industry applauded the White House action as a sign of its commitment to renewable energy.
“As we enter the second decade of the 21st century experiencing a horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a devastating natural gas explosion in California, death of 25 West Virginia coal miners, kidnapped uranium miners in Niger — it’s about time for the United States to reposition itself as a global leader in solar and the entire portfolio renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies critical to our economic and national security.”
Explained Scott Sklar, president of the Stella Group, which promotes renewable power generation.
He continued:
“This project reflects President Obama’s strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home…Deploying solar energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come.”
The President’s move, indeed, is a step in the right direction; but he has not by any means one-upped his predecessors. He is no more innovative than Carter or Bush, and therefore he is not actually doing anything for the green revolution. Cap and Trade is an unfulfilled dream – an idea in vain, perhaps. And oil and coal prices have not been raised in order to make room for the alternative energy industry, like electric cars, for example. Coal power still accounts for about half of the country’s electricity; and we continue to increase our fossil fuel supply by engaging in offshore drilling.