The installation of 6.3 kilowatts’ worth of solar capacity fulfills a 2010 promise. Solar panels return to the W.H.

The solar panels are back on the White House roof.

Three decades after Ronald Reagan had Jimmy Carter’s solar panels tossed into the energy dustbin, the White House has finished putting sun-powered electricity back on top of the executive mansion in a small but symbolic gesture, according to the White House.


“Continuing President [Barack] Obama’s commitment to lead by example to increase the use of clean energy in the U.S., the White House has completed installation of American-made solar panels on the first family’s residence as a part of an energy retrofit that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said in a statement.

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“The project, which helps demonstrate that historic buildings can incorporate solar energy and energy efficiency upgrades, is estimated to pay for itself in energy savings over the next eight years,” he added.

The installation of 6.3 kilowatts’ worth of solar capacity fulfills a promise the administration first made in 2010, and complements a host of government and corporate energy initiatives that Obama will unveil in a speech at a Wal-Mart store in Mountain View, California.

Among other things, Obama will finalize several new energy efficiency standards, get hundreds of businesses and organizations to promise to deploy almost a gigawatt of clean energy, and train more workers for the nation’s burgeoning solar workforce. The corporate commitments come from companies like Apple, Google and Yahoo.

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Obama will also set another $2 billion goal for energy-efficiency performance contracts at federal buildings.

The announcements cap off a week in which the White House touted the need to act immediately to address climate change, even as sniping on the Hill threatened to derail a bipartisan energy efficiency bill for the second time in a year. That gives Obama the opportunity to highlight the “pen and phone” actions his administration is taking while gridlock keeps Congress paralyzed.

Still, it took a long time for solar power to regain its place at the president’s own abode.

Carter, who had made addressing the energy crisis a centerpiece of his presidency, had 32 panels designed to heat water installed on the roof in 1979. At the dedication, he proclaimed that in the year 2000 the panels “will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy.”

Instead, Reagan had them removed, a sign that as far as the new administration was concerned, the hair-shirt ’70s were over.

Solar power did return to the broader White House grounds in 2002, when the National Park Service installed a 9-kilowatt photovoltaic system atop a maintenance building in the complex. But the White House roof itself remained clear of solar panels.

By 2010, climate activist Bill McKibben and other environmentalists began pressuring the Obama White House to set up a new solar array in line with the president’s talk about a green energy revolution. The effort stalled out for a time, after the summer 2011 deadline came and went. Then, last August, the White House said it had begun putting them up.

Obama’s address will deal with the broader energy initiative, in which the White House has secured over 300 commitments from private companies and public-sector entities to increase their use of solar power by deploying an additional 850 megawatts of solar power. By comparison, the entire U.S. had about 13,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity at the end of 2013.

The commitments include pledges from 199 rural electric co-ops to install 150 megawatts of new solar by 2020, as well as other commitments from housing providers and companies like Kaiser Permanente, Ikea, Apple, Google, Yahoo and Wal-Mart.

Obama’s $2 billion goal for energy-efficiency contracts at federal buildings adds to the initial $2 billion commitment the administration made in 2011. Under the contracts, energy service companies set up private-sector financing for efficiency projects, ultimately saving the government money on electricity.

“We’ve already seen impressive progress here,” acting Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Mike Boots told reporters on a conference call Thursday. “Actual savings due to the use of performance contracts so far have exceeded the savings guaranteed by those contracts.”

Obama will also finalize new Energy Department efficiency standards for electric motors and walk-in coolers and freezers. Those standards will save consumers $26 billion in electricity costs through 2030 while cutting carbon emissions by around 158 million metric tons, according to the White House.

The burgeoning U.S. solar industry will also get a helping hand.

The Energy Department will support training programs at community colleges to help another 50,000 people join the solar workforce by the end of this decade.

The U.S. solar industry — nearly half of which consists of workers who install solar projects — added almost 24,000 jobs last year, bringing total employment in the sector to over 142,000 people, according to an industry census. That census also concluded the industry plans to add 22,000 jobs this year.

Despite the rapid growth, solar remains a tiny fraction of the nation’s energy supply. The U.S. got 0.23 percent of its electricity from solar sources in 2013, according to Energy Information Administration data.

Other executive actions Obama will announce include:

DOE will launch a “High Performance Outdoor Lighting Accelerator” program to upgrade inefficient outdoor lighting in cities including Detroit; Little Rock, Arkansas; and West Palm Beach, Florida.

A partnership between DOE and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support solar employment opportunities for public housing residents.

The General Services Administration will organize federal agencies in the Washington, D.C., and Northern California regions potentially to pool resources and invest in larger solar projects.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service will clarify “how rules regarding real property relate to renewable energy installations.”

DOE will preliminarily affirm new industry-developed commercial building energy codes, which offer another 8.5 percent savings over the previous standard.

Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration will expand a financing program that “provides extra loan proceeds to owners of affordable housing properties to make energy- and water-efficient property improvements.”

Twenty-five new partners will join the Better Buildings Challenge, which commits to efficiency improvements on commercial and industrial buildings. New partners include General Motors, General Mills, Whole Foods Markets, Volvo, Hilton Worldwide, MGM Resorts International, the University of Virginia, Penn State University and Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Other partners in the Better Buildings Challenge, including Nissan, Ford, GM, Kohl’s and the cities of Atlanta and Fort Worth, Texas will work on cutting water consumption.