Obama Puts Solar Panels Back on White House

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

Obama Administration Championing Solar

The Obama Administration announced Thursday, April 17th that the Energy Department is pledging $15 million to help communities develop aggressive plans for installing more solar energy.

The announcement was just one news piece among several that are promising for continued solar industry growth.

“As part of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, solar energy is helping families and businesses throughout the U.S. access affordable, clean renewable power,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement. "The Energy Department is committed to further driving down the cost of solar energy and supporting innovative community-based programs – creating more jobs, reducing carbon pollution and boosting economic growth.”

The $15 million Solar Market Pathways funding is meant to help individual states, communities and tribal nations find ways to cut through red tape to make solar installation more affordable and to educate consumers on the desirability and affordability of solar energy.

In addition to the Pathways money, the Obama administration announced it aims to spur solar industry growth in other ways.

The Department of Defense, the country’s biggest single energy consumer, has committed to installing 3 gigawatts of renewable electricity generation on military bases around the world between now and 2025.

The Energy Department also announced that it would fund up to $4 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

The Climate Action Plan also calls for federally-assisted housing to install more 100 megawatts of solar by 2020. The Environmental Protection Agency also announced that it aims to double its use of onsite renewable energy generation by the end of the decade.

Additionally, the Agriculture and Energy departments are partnering with rural utility cooperatives to develop tools, templates and financing options for increased distributed solar and other renewable energy generation.

The Energy Department announced $2.5 billion in loan guaranty funds that could be used to support distributed generation and energy storage projects.

All of these announcements were made in front of some of the solar industry’s most influential leaders, who gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the solar industry. The Champions for Change Solar Summit was streamed live on the Obama Administration website.

Aside from new funding and the President’s “phone and pen” push to double the amount of solar installed in the US by 2020, the group expressed optimism about the industry’s future.

The primary concern is grid integration and cooperation with utility companies, an issue that is becoming increasingly important as utility companies protest net metering policies.

Source: Amanda Miller. Clean Energy Authority. April 21, 2014