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Obama to Return Solar Panels to White House, Chu Says (Update2)
2010-10-05 19:20:45.122 GMT
(Updates with industry comment in fourth paragraph, made-
in-U.S. issue in sixth.)
By Kim Chipman
Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will have
solar panels put back on the roof of the White House to
demonstrate that renewable-energy technology is practical for
U.S. homeowners, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.
"The White House will lead by example," Chu said today at
a conference in Washington. A solar-water heater will be
installed in addition to photovoltaic panels to generate
electricity, which will be in place by the end of June, he said.
"It's been a long time since we've had them up there."
President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the
White House's West Wing 31 years ago. They were taken down under
Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan. Solar-energy advocates have
pressed Obama to return panels to the executive mansion as a
symbol of his commitment to renewable energy. The panels and
heater will be atop Obama's private residence in the East Wing.
"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, a Washington-based trade group,
said in a statement.
The Energy Department said in a statement that it will hold
competitive bidding to choose the company that will install the
solar systems.
U.S.-Made Panels
Asked whether the panels on the White House roof must be
made in the U.S., Stephanie Mueller, an Energy Department
spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the criteria for the winning
bidder will include "how well it showcases American technology,
products and know-how."
The U.S. has fallen behind China and European countries
such as Germany in renewable energy. Asia makes more than half
the world's wind and solar energy equipment and is widening its
lead. China invested $34.5 billion in low-carbon energy
technologies last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy
Finance. The U.S. spent $18.6 billion.
Chu said today that the U.S. is on course to meet Obama's
goal of doubling manufacturing capacity for renewable energy by
2012. Obama has failed to win passage in Congress of
legislation to create a cap-and-trade system limiting carbon
emissions or to establish national standards for the use of
renewable energy.
Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy
Research, a free-market analysis group in Washington, said the
rooftop panels will underscore hostility by Obama toward fossil
fuels such as coal.
'Ineffective, Expensive'
Solar energy is "ineffective, expensive and unreliable and
will continue to be in our lifetimes and probably our children's
lifetimes and beyond," Pyle said in an interview.
The panels will mark the first time solar energy has been
used for the private residence of the White House, according to
the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Carter's
panels were above offices and used for hot water, not
electricity.
Under President George W. Bush, the National Park Service
installed solar photovoltaics and a solar hot-water heater on
smaller White House facilities near the main building.
Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who met with
administration officials and led rallies calling for Obama to
return solar panels to the White House, said today the
administration "listened to the Americans who asked for solar
on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers
who told them this is the path to the future."
The symbolism of solar energy in use at the White House may
lead to an "upsurge in business,'" Danny Kennedy, co-founder
of closely held Sungevity Inc., a solar company based in
Oakland, California, said in an interview today. Sungevity led a
"Solar on the White House" campaign earlier this year.
For Related News and Information:
Carbon Markets: EMIS <GO>
Top Climate Stories: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top Environment stories: TOP ENV <GO>
Locations of global energy facilities: BMAP <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kim Chipman in Washington at +1-202-624-1927 or
kchipman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
lliebert@bloomberg.net
