Solar on the White House
RLGR Gripe of the Week
Edited from a column written by Tor “Solar Fred” Valenza for Renewable Energy World
Memo to: President Barack Obama
Re: The Promised Solar Panels on the White House. Please advise.
Dear Mr President:
Now that the election is over, I’d like to follow up on a significant announcement Energy Secretary Chu made in October 2010. He announced that the Department of Energy would put solar hot water and solar PV systems on the roof of The White House by the end of spring 2011, and that your administration would be leading by example.
Now, I’m sure you have permitting hassles in Washington DC, but please, this type of installation has been done on 248,000 of homes and businesses across America. And solar is so reliable that it’s the default power source for all of our military and telecommunication satellites that we all use and love. So, let’s agree that it’s not the technology or reliability that’s holding up solar going on the White House roof…again.
It’s the politics. I understand. Solyndra, yada, yada, yada.
But Mr President, the public understands that Solyndra’s press attention is more about presidential politics than it is about the viability of solar. In fact, despite all of the Solyndra mud slinging unfairly hitting our solar industry of 119,000 employed workers, a fall 2012 poll of likely voters shows that 92% of Americans (94% of Democrats, 89% of independents, and 75% of Republicans) still support developing more solar. The same survey showed that 91% of Democrats, 78% of independents and 63% of Republicans want the government to support solar with tax credits and other financial incentives.
And here’s the other thing you may be forgetting: To follow through with putting solar on the White House, you don’t have to cajole Congress to do anything.
So why is this important? Because as the leader of United States and the free world, what you use, explain, and demonstrate to the American people makes them question their old 1980’s misconceptions about solar, such as it being unaffordable or unreliable. Sadly, this was the other issue with that poll.
In short, it’s solar time, Mr. President
If readers agrees with this, please encourage the President to follow through. Share this post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social network. If you want to take an extra step, Tweet: @WhiteHouse Where are the solar panels, Mr. President? #ForwardForSolar
Solar on the White House
