The White House is going solar

By Ed O'Keefe

Solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House residence as part of a broader Energy Department solar demonstration project, according to the The Post's Juliet Eilperin:

Jimmy Carter inspects a new White House solar hot water heating system on June 20, 1979. (AP) The move comes in the wake of a grassroots campaign led by 350.org founder Bill McKibben to get Obama to reinstall solar panels then-President Jimmy Carter put on the White House in 1979. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan removed the panels and let federal renewable energy subsidies expire; several of the panels were donated to Unity College in the 1990s. McKibben brought some of the old panels down to the District last month as part of his group's "10/10/10 Global Work Party" on climate change, but at the time, the White House remained noncommittal on the matter. "The White House did the right thing, and for the right reasons: They listened to the Americans who asked for solar on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers who told them this is the path to the future," McKibben said in a statement. "If it has anything like the effect of the White House garden, it could be a trigger for a wave of solar installations across the country and around the world." Continue reading at Post Carbon >>>

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By Ed O'Keefe | October 5, 2010; 12:00 PM ET

Categories: Administration

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