June 21, 2011, 1:04 pm
The White House’s Rooftop Solar ChallengeBy ANDREW C. REVKIN
The White House and Department of Energy have been pushing a national Rooftop Solar Challenge that’s mainly aimed at eliminating a variety of bureaucratic hurdles at the local and regional level that are impeding broader deployment of photovoltaic panels.
In a blog post yesterday, Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the energy department blamed bureaucratic procedures for the delay: The Energy Department remains on the path to complete the White House solar demonstration project, in keeping with our commitment, and we look forward to sharing more information — including additional details on the timing of this project — after the competitive procurement process is completed.A prime directive in politics is not to make pledges you can’t meet.
When President George W. Bush abandoned his campaign pledge to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power plants four months after his election, that didn’t do much for his credibility.
This is a far smaller failure, but remains unfortunate, nonetheless.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/the-white-houses-rooftop-solar-challenge/-----------------
The administration initially rejected the idea of following in Jimmy Carter's footsteps. Why the change of heart?
By Andrew Leonard
So Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is out of the White House, and suddenly, solar panels are back in. This is either a welcome change of tone, prefiguring a new push on climate change and renewable energy, or yet another example of how a too-cautious administration keeps stepping on its feet.Or both.In September, the writer and climate change crusader Bill McKibben sent a jolt of dismay through the environmental community after recounting a distressing trip to the White House. McKibben and some young activists had come up with what they thought was a great idea. They had located one of the solar panels that President Jimmy Carter had installed on the roof of the White House (later removed by Ronald Reagan) and they decided to bring it back to Washington for a triumphant reinstallation.
They made it into the White House, but then got stonewalled. When the college-age activists accompanying McKibben asked why the administration wouldn't do the "obvious thing" and put solar panels on the White House, they couldn't get a straight answer.http://www.frumforum.com/white-house-reneges-on-solar-panel-promise---------------------
White House Misses Solar Panel DeadlineJune 21st, 2011 at 11:12 am
The Associated Press reports:
Last October, the Obama administration announced plans to install solar panels on the roof of the White House by the spring of this year, returning the power of the sun to the pinnacle of prominence a quarter-century after Jimmy Carter’s pioneering system was taken down.
Spring has come and gone, and the promised panels have yet to see the light of day.
Administration officials blame the complexities of the contracting process, and say the solar project is still an active one. But they can’t say when it’ll be complete.
Environmental groups say the symbolism is telling — and disappointing.
“On we’ll go,” sighed Bill McKibben, founder of the climate activist group 350.org. “One more summer of beautiful, strong sunlight going to waste, just bouncing off the White House roof.”
McKibben and other environmentalists say the failure to meet its own deadline reflects an administration that’s been long on green rhetoric but sometimes disappointingly short on practical accomplishments.
http://www.frumforum.com/white-house-reneges-on-solar-panel-promise
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