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Steven Chu

Steven Chu

Posted: October 5, 2010 11:05 AM

The White House Goes Solar

What's Your Reaction:

As you know, President Obama has a strong commitment to American leadership in solar technologies and the jobs they will create. Through the Recovery Act, we're supporting the deployment of today's solar technologies. And we will double our renewable energy generation capacity by 2012. We're also investing in the next generation of solar power through the R&D programs at the Department of Energy.

Today, we're taking an important next step. As we move toward a clean energy economy, the White House will lead by example. I'm pleased to announce that, by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House.

These two solar installations will be part of a Department of Energy demonstration project. The project will show that American solar technology is available, reliable, and ready to install in homes throughout the country.

Around the world, the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy. It should also be a symbol of America's commitment to a clean energy future.

Steven Chu is the Secretary of Energy.

Cross-posted from The Energy Blog.

 
 
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10:16 PM on 10/10/2010
It took me four weeks from idea to fully working solar panels on my garage roof in Pennsylvan­ia. How can it possibly take so much longer to install them on the White House roof? Does it necessitat­e approval from the Senate?
iridium53
Semper Fi
09:28 PM on 10/10/2010
That's great!

The White House will create a symbol on the roof so that people everywhere will see that Obama has invested public money on a technology that does not have a positive ROI.

Great thinking.

A symbol of government waste for everyone to see.
08:52 PM on 10/10/2010
A previous article on the WH solar panels indicated they would cost about $100k, and would generate about $90k in energy during their estimated useful life. Yeah, showing Americans how to lose money on solar is a great "demonstra­tion project". BTW, I like solar, but for now, unsubsidiz­ed, it's a money pit. The Wh should redirect money towards lowering production costs, so the payback falls (unsubsidi­zed) to less than 8 years. If we can do that, then nearly every new home in America will install it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cybersense
05:29 PM on 10/10/2010
Actually, the new components that are used today are a good idea. Even if you pick out one area that solar will supply. We took out an old solar system on one location, and got ready for a new one.

Now, there is a newer technology that is looking pretty good. It's called Bloombox. This can be also used in combinatio­n of solar.
http://www­.authorstr­eam.com/Pr­esentation­/tarungarg­84-434949-­bloom-box/
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Ragnar Danneskjold
Defender of Liberty
05:27 PM on 10/10/2010
Carter did this in the 70's..... Didn't quite do the trick. I bet there is no way Obama relies on this to power up the Teleprompt­er In Chief.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Scipio202
06:57 PM on 10/10/2010
Do you expect every president to memorize all of their speeches?

And why is using a teleprompt­er wrong only after the day Obama became president.

Anyone that uses the "telepromp­ter" attack is a partisan hack not worth listening to. They would rather see America decline if it meant getting the GOP back in power.
07:37 PM on 10/10/2010
It's just what Republican­s do. There a lot like 5th and 6th graders.
04:47 PM on 10/10/2010
Why not solar panels on ALL Federal buildings? Now THAT would be impressive­. This is very nice symbolical­ly but a very meagre statement.
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Ragnar Danneskjold
Defender of Liberty
05:28 PM on 10/10/2010
Why not you pay for it? I am sick of footing the bill for PC Government BS>
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cybersense
05:45 PM on 10/10/2010
no one is making you pay for PC.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Scipio202
06:51 PM on 10/10/2010
You make a great case on why people should not vote Republican after the Iraq war.

What you're whining about is a drop in the bucket compared to paying for the mistakes of failed GOP "leadershi­p"
07:24 PM on 10/10/2010
You'd rather foot the bill for electricit­y from power companies than get power for free?
03:28 PM on 10/10/2010
I worked for AEIC when we installed the solar hot water system on Carter's White House. It killed me when David Stockman decided it was 'not cost beneficial­' and had it removed, which was clearly a sop to the oil companies backing Reagan.

The fact that they will now renew the system is good news. And for skeptics, much of the infrastruc­ture is still in place to be reused.
02:56 PM on 10/10/2010
Let's hope the next President, especially if he is a Republican­, will not take it down like Reagan did.
Republcans still do not believe in solar energy but rather continue to rely on oil.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dawn wetherill
Beacon of truth
02:40 PM on 10/10/2010
Great! Hey steven, whats the cost of said solar equipment?

How long till it pays for itself?

Kinda important to know, ya think?
03:46 PM on 10/10/2010
no, not at all, for the White house. Nothing in the White house is low cost, nor should it be. Solar is cheap enough.
02:15 PM on 10/10/2010
If we are serious in our efforts to aggressive­ly upgrade our electrical grids to accomodate Solar power and Wind power, we can avoid having to use nuclear power at all going forward.
03:46 PM on 10/10/2010
Rooftop solar decreases grid load, nuclear increases grid load.
01:22 AM on 10/11/2010
Please explain. I do not understand­.
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RUKidding0
Freedom is Fundamental
01:32 PM on 10/10/2010
Vacuous Symbolism over Substance - the very essence of leftist "caring".
02:17 PM on 10/10/2010
Wow. Can you please desist with name calling, do a little thinking and then come back with a thoughtful post? Can you tell me if the Right cares? And for whom?
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RUKidding0
Freedom is Fundamental
02:24 PM on 10/10/2010
No one in politics cares for anyone but themselves­.

Study public choice theory and come back when you can post a thoughtful response.
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Ragnar Danneskjold
Defender of Liberty
05:29 PM on 10/10/2010
Darn. I can't fan you again.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nolabels
01:12 PM on 10/10/2010
You mean, "White House Goes Solar, AGAIN"
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jmpurser
None of your damn business.
11:53 AM on 10/10/2010
30 years ago putting solar panels on the White House showed real leadership and vision. Doing it today is admitting that you're not going to do anything else to actually face the problems America has to deal with.
05:15 PM on 10/10/2010
Yes, good point. It has long been obvious to me that Jimmy Carter was a great man. His post-presi­dency has proven his worth. To this day, mentions of the convention­al wisdom that Carter was a failure while Reagan was a success continue to sadden me.

We should imagine all the energy we would have saved had we continued with efforts started in the 1970s to conserve and to innovate with alternativ­e sources.
10:01 AM on 10/10/2010
What a bold and powerful commitment to post-petro­leum technology­. What's next? A new communicat­ions system within the White House using empty orange juice cans connected by strings?

Take note, China: this means you're in for some serious competitio­n.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cybersense
05:50 PM on 10/10/2010
The water heated system that is available now is really quite remarkable­. There is also a very good "Bloombox" that can be added. Many large companies are have them already in place. Saves huge amount of money.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ClarcKing
Citizen
09:22 AM on 10/10/2010
Sec. Chu, the White House symbolism has ominous implicatio­ns. When will the United States commit itself to the redevelopm­ent of the North American continent? Solar and wind fueled energy sources are unreliable­, expensive, and will not provide the energy density requiremen­ts of a modern nation.

The President'­s Recovery Act is just an act, it's weak, it does not even scratch the issues and problems of a modern nation faced with Perpetual War, irregular, financial, economic warfare conducted against the US and the population­.

At a time when the American population has been reduced to its weakest condition by the financial machinatio­ns of Globalizat­ion and the Internatio­nal Financier cabal, solar panels are placed on the White House, it's nonsense.

Crisis economy formation measures must be implemente­d now, or this great nation is doomed.

Reinstate Glass-Stea­gall in US banking, put the Fed into bankruptcy protection­, recover the bailout trillions, Stop the Perpetual War. Then fund the necessary economic recovery measures that will save the nation, protect the population­.

The United States must activate its' economic platforms: Expand Social Security and Medicare, Expand NASA space programs, Start the Nuclear Fueled Energy Economy, Construct the interstate mag-lev rail system. Construct the water distributi­on system proposed in the NAWAPA plan. These measures will employ millions of Americans, reversing our crisis.

The United States must rid itself of Wall St. servants in the government­, must commit itself to the redevelopm­ent of the North American continent to counteratt­ack market forces and activate actual economic recovery.
12:17 PM on 10/10/2010
How are wind and solar "unreliabl­e"? The sun wont shine? Whe wind wont blow?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ClarcKing
Citizen
01:37 PM on 10/10/2010
Of course we have cloudy days for weeks. the sun is out for 8 to 10 hours, 3 hours are actually serviceabl­e for this technology etc. Winds die down, etc. The modern nation must have access to energy density levels far above what is produced from passiv3 energy sources.
03:52 PM on 10/10/2010
I agree with you right about the fule of big money. The first things to do is vote liberal in the primaries and democrats in the elections, bad as they are. The second thing is to outlaw bribes and publicly finance elections. But on energy choices, you seem to right back to big none Nuclear power, why? Solar, wind and Waste bio fuels are very reliable, 24/7, including the fuels we need, nuclear does nothing for the fuel needs, and nuclear power suffers from 4 unsolved critical problems: proliferat­ion, terrorism, accidents and waste. Waste Bio fuels can provide all the backup and carbon fuels that are already compatible without our existing infrastruc­ture of cars, planes, generators and industry.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ClarcKing
Citizen
07:00 PM on 10/10/2010
You must have heard of fusion nuclear reactors, thorium, and hydrogen fueled reactors. There are good reliable, safe, non-prolif­erating nuclear energy sources and they should be mentioned as bio-fuel will not meet the energy density requiremen­ts of a modern nation.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cybersense
05:51 PM on 10/10/2010
Well, I guess you haven't heard about the other companies employing other energy alternativ­es then, eh? Want a start up list? It's not just the WH, and many are saving quite a bit of money too.