President Obama will announce
new plans Friday designed to boost solar power and promote energy efficiency,
including the completed installation of solar panels on the White House roof.
The
solar panels on the president's residence are "part of an energy retrofit
that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building," said
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich.
During
a visit to Wal-Mart in Mountain View, Calif., near San Jose, Obama will also
outline what aides call some 300 "private and public sector
commitments" designed to create jobs and reduce carbon pollution.
The
speech comes three days after the administration issued a report saying that
climate change caused by pollution is already damaging the environment and
triggering extreme weather conditions.
"Acting
on climate change is more urgent than ever," said Michael Boots, acting
chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality.
In a
campaign fundraising speech this week in Los Angeles, Obama said his
administration has "actually reduced our carbon emissions faster than any
other country in the world, even as we are also producing more energy
generally, doubling our production of clean energy."
The
initiatives Obama will announce Friday include programs aimed at financing for
new solar business ventures, training and developing a solar workforce, and
enforcing new building codes to promote efficiency.
Private
companies, including Wal-Mart, will commit to similar projects, the White House
said.
The
plans are projected to create enough new solar energy to power more than
130,000 homes, and energy savings that are the equivalent of taking 80 million
cars off the road for one year, the White House said.
President Jimmy Carter also installed
solar panels at the White House, but President Ronald Reagan had them removed.
Congressional
Republicans said they support renewable energy, but Obama's plan should include
more domestic energy production, including the proposed Keystone oil pipeline.
"The
president can't claim an 'all of the above' strategy while he's blocking the
Keystone pipeline, slow-rolling the approval of new energy exploration, and
proposing job-killing regulations that will destroy the American coal
industry," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner,
R-Ohio.
Source: David Jackson. USA TODAY. 5/9/14
