From the Guardian:
It has been said that Obama is the worst president since Jimmy Carter, perhaps now in the eyes of 350.org supporters, he’s “worse than we thought”. Carter was the first to put solar panels on the White House. Being nothing more than an icon, they didn’t last.
And here we have a more recent example of iconic posturing:
350.org “community solanizer” Bill McKibben writes:
Disappointment at the White House, Pride in the Movement
For the last three days, I’ve been sitting at my kitchen table in California cranking out press releases, calling reporters, and generally playing “pit crew” for Bill and our Put Solar On It road trip. It’s been a great ride: tens of thousands of people have shown their support for putting solar back on the White House, the crew had great stops in Boston, New York, and D.C., and we managed to secure a meeting with the Administration to discuss putting solar back on the roof.
As we expected (but secretly hoped wouldn’t be the case), the White House didn’t commit to … well, anything. We tossed them a big, fat soft ball to hit out of the park and they just watched it float on by.
===============================================
So much America’s “first green president”. Solar isn’t even mentioned here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/energy-and-environment
The irony, it burns.
UPDATE: some people wrongly got the idea that I hate solar power, which is not the case at all. I put solar on my own home, see the story here.
-Anthony
Sponsored IT training links:
We guarantee that our 70-662 dumps will change your luck in 646-364 exam. Just go through 70-291 practice questions and pass your exam on first try
That meant he is interfering with green jobs. Remember President Bush enjoys a very green ranch house.
He must be anti science.
Defacing the exterior of US national historic monuments with solar panels? Whose hare brained idea was that? Obama’s refusal is one of his better decisions. His stock just rose a bit in my book.
I say ALL of the “Greenpeacers” out there should convoy via electric buses into DC and all chain themselves to the fence around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.– it might take a while, due to the annoyingly frequent stops to recharge which takes annoyingly long periods of time, but the end result of this convoy would be more than worth it……..
This will give you and idea of how CRAZY solar is!!!
It has been said that Obama is the worst president since Jimmy Carter, perhaps now in the eyes of 350.org supporters, he’s “worse than we thought”.
Anyone who says that must have been sleeping during the terms of George W. Bush. Two recessions, devastating attacks on our soil, a mess in Afghanistan, unnecessary invasion and bungled occupation of Iraq, global banking meltdown, virtually no net job creation………and someone thinks Carter (or Obama) was bad, in comparison?
Sí, se puede
We have large windows that let in natural sunlight.
…and a garden!!
This is a PR nightmare if it was allowed.
From defacing the Whitehouse. To people studying how many WATTS the panels put out in power per day to the actual cost. Is it not overcast most days?
Solar energy is a “rich man’s hobby”. I am lucky enough to afford some of it and over a period of years have 10 KW of panels on my roof in the Boston area, which on a good day will generate about 5 KW. That is due largely to a poor roof orientation of NE/SW. Some panels get sun while others are shaded. But hey, I am one of those PhD nerds from MIT and you gotta play. People ask me the time to payback and I tell them never. But there is some method in my madness. We get ice storms, etc. up here and power outages lasting days are not unknown. Thus there is a 100 KWH battery bank for backup to the inverters. Lotsa fun moving a 333# 6V cell into position. But if we have a tree come down through the wires, at least the fridge, the heating, and some lighting will be there. 3 days of no power and no heat in winter gets you the chance to replace a lot of burst pipes. So, I have my “toy” and a bit of power outage insurance. Does it pay for itself? In this area of the country, never has, and never will. Even taking the cost of the panels through the floor doesn’t help. You have the rest of Barbie’s clothes to pay for.
Solar panels not cost effective? Who woulda thunk it.
They would save much more energy shutting the place down, he is never home anyway
well said marge
welcome to how the reality distortion zone creates mythology in real time that persists even when its quite glaringly unbelievable
Want alternatives to compete and have a chance? ok, then remove all the subsidies with the several industries that heavily involve petroleum and see what happens once the massive market distortions are removed. I don’t wanna hear any complaints though once people actually have to pay for their petroleum based lives. The external costs are huge to say the least.
DN-
Since you live in Ontario, have you submitted your application yet for solar PV on your roof or in your yard? Last I read the feed in tariff is back at around 80 cents/kWhr, compared with residential rates in the 7 – 8 cents/kWhr range right now.
…and tell me again how Obama could be worse than Bush? Two wars, tax cuts for the only the richest in the country, and an economy in the tank because Bush let Wall Street ruin the economy…what was that about Obama again?
Solar panels on the White House? I think not. Tacky! Very Tacky!
I have heard from an authoritative source (Some one who hears green voices) that, instead, he will install several Industrial Wind Turbines in the Rose Garden as a demonstration of his deep commitment to the environmental movement. That is unless of course they are too noisy and annoying — in which case he will encourage other people to “Go Green!” — but not near him — and to suffer the noise, flicker effect and infra-sound that accompanies them — and drives some people bonkers.
Green is Good! If other people bear the consequences.
“it has been said that Anthony Watts is a lier”
I would hope that un attributed ad hominem attacks would have no place on this site. It brings into question your prejudices. Maybe you’re a skeptic not because of reasoned scientific analysis but because your and ignorant, creationist, tea-partying, republican tool.
-chico
REPLY: If you want to insult me, at least learn how to spell your insults correctly. Heh. -Anthony
Hey DN, do you find that you’re recouping the cost of your solar-hot-water investment reasonably quickly? Or is it one of those “you’ll break even in 14 years or so” deals? That’s what we were told back in the mid-’90s, when we expanded our house. We heat baseboard hot water with natural gas.
/Mr Lynn
I got some of those free solar heaters from Carter. They were supposed to heat the house, but barely heated the hot tub. Hey they were free, even though the stupid government paid me $7500 to have them installed.
Obama the destroyer … Now takes the ring off Carter’s hand.
nofreewind says:
September 12, 2010 at 5:16 am
This will give you and idea of how CRAZY solar is!!!
Interesting articles. Imho, solar panels are useful only for pocket calculators, and and those little landscape lights.
Mike Haseler wrote:
Boy, there’s a lot of truth in that post. I built a “solar” house just as you described – with lots of windows on the S side – in California in 1975. During the 15 years we lived there, it needed no central heat whatsoever. More recently, I started a business designing “engineered homes” incorporating such ideas but shut it down this year. I found there’s absolutely no demand for simple, inexpensive, comfortable, low-maintenance,energy-efficient homes. People just want what their neighbor has, only bigger and more ostentatious.
The idea of pre-heating your hot water with solar works really well with the tankless “instant” propane water heaters.
“… tens of thousands of people have shown their support for putting solar back on the White House'”
If SPV were viable, the White House would have shown its support for putting solar on the houses of tens of thousands of people. Heh. Not the other way around.
Cranking out press releases from the kitchen? 🙂 Now we know what’s been cooking.
Geez, I thought the saying was, “you can’t make EVERYBODY happy.”The way Mr Obama is going, he “can’t make ANYBODY happy”
In comparing Obama to Carter, it looks like Carter is going to deserve a place on Mt Rushmore.
I see that several posters are in stage 2 now.
ie: Democrat’s plans for this fall:
1) Denial
2) Anger
3) Bargaining
4) Depression
5) Acceptance
Really, guys, the faster you can work through the these the happier you will be.
Here’s a recent interview with McKibben about the White House and climate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JcRj-Yokuw
Alarmist doesn’t begin to describe him.
I have individual solar paneled lights in my barn, ranch blacksmith shop, my back door, and for all my electric fences. Why? Too damned expensive to have an electric company come in and string poled wires to these locations. It was a no brainer in terms of cost. When (or if) the blacksmith shop or barn are needed for equipment repair purposes, of course I will have to invest in conventional power sources to run motorized repair equipment. Until then, solar is just exactly what I need.
Solar comes in many varieties. If it is cheaper than conventional electricity, I will install it. Simple as that. Don’t care what other people think. Don’t care if others think I am green or a gawdamn redneck. Don’t care if people think I drink cool aid or eat nails. It is whatever is cost effective and scientifically valid. Wish Obama had that attitude. With this latest decision he has made (and there is significant risk he will change his mind), he just may be gettin some grit.
Forgive me if I have my doubts that these decisions are only based on strict cost-benefit analysis. Occupants of the White House – both parties – are very politically calculating with a high visibility building like this.
But it is not hard for me to believe that the original panels were removed approximately when umbrellas began to be deployed indoors. This is a different type of cost-benefit analysis and it is just possible that the President wanted no comparisons to the bumbling Carter.
As for Carter, well, Mr. Obama has a shot at his title of “Worst President”, but he is going to have to go hard. Carter lost 46 States in his reelection bid, Reagan won 50 in his.
This is not my opinion, but that of the American people.