AIN’T NO SUN PANELS ON THE WHITE HOUSE

Solar Remains Missing From White House Rooftop As Deadline Arrives
Jessica Lillian, 21 June 2011 (Solar Industry)

"…Last October, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley…[said] a PV array and a solar water heating system would be installed on the roof of the White House. A competitive procurement process to select the projects' installers was set…The self-imposed deadline for completion…was the end of this spring [which was June 21]…

"…[T]he DOE's [June 20] blog post…An Update on White House Solar Panels and Our Solar Program, focused on the broader solar-focused projects that the department is currently undertaking…[and said the demonstration solar project] at the White House is just ‘one component of the Energy Department's larger, ambitious SunShot Initiative to reduce the total installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75 percent before the end of the decade…’"

Artist's concept of what it could look like (click to enlarge)

[Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Director, SunShot Initiative and Solar Energy Technologies Program:] "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…"

"Ramesh also highlighted the DOE's Rooftop Solar Challenge, which is designed to streamline solar project installations' administrative processes, and SunShot Incubator, which aims to scale up innovative manufacturing technologies."

click thru to petition the White House to act

"Although some solar sector professionals have derided efforts to see solar on the White House as a distracting publicity stunt, others [such as 350.org] insist that the completion of the promised project would send a demonstrative global signal about the administration's commitment to the deployment of renewable energy."

[Rhone Resch, president/CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association:] "Putting solar on the roof of the nation's most important home is a powerful symbol calling on all Americans to rethink how we create energy…"