Solar Power On the White House

CartaNova writes "The Obama administration has announced plans to install solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the White House. The Carter administration had previously installed a 32-panel solar system at the White House — which was quietly removed during Reagan's tenure in office. Solar hot water and Photovoltaic firms had been campaigning on this issue for some time."

Comments

Re:Why do Americans have problems with solar power

[codepunk]

I am curious, not trying to bust your chops or anything but how can you justify the cost on something that will never pay a return? I cannot see it ever being a good investment at todays prices at least.

2012: President Palin removes solar panels

[acb]

Didn't Jimmy Carter install solar panels on the Whitehouse roof, only to have Reagan remove them for ideological reasons immediately after his inauguration? (Or was that Clinton and Bush II?)

Re:Why do Americans have problems with solar power

[feepness]

The GP informed us that most German homes are built with solar panels, and you know damn well that not even a tiny percentage of American homes are, nor will this be the case five years from now no matter what Obama or you do.

No, I don't know that damn well. Sorry. Also, the GP said solar water, not solar photovoltaic. Every home improvement store has large solar displays here in San Diego.

Or, to put it another way: If you were given a chance to bet on whether a random American house builder would have solar panels installed or not, it would be smart of you to generalize that Americans don't give half a damn about the environment, and bet accordingly.

I don't give half a damn about "saving the environment" with solar panels. I don't buy man-made global warming (or climate change or whatever it goes by nowadays). Even if I did I'm not convinced that buying and installing solar panels is a net carbon "win". I do think free electricity is a good long term investment in the value of my home. I do think that gasoline vehicles are loud, smelly, and will ultimately be less reliable than electrics. I do think it will be nice when there are fewer of them making smog and noise. But make no mistake, I'm doing this for no one but myself and wouldn't be doing it if the price math didn't ultimately pencil out well in my favor. And as the GP said, German homes have it because it is efficient, not because they are trying to save the environment.

I think the reason that some Americans are so opposed to renewable energy is that they have been beat over the head with nebulous claims of global warming catastrophe rather than shown the direct benefits I listed above. They have been told time and again how evil they are for simply living their lives. The smug that comes off some people is palpable and disgusting.

Re:Actually G W Bush installed solar

[Trailer Trash]

You guys must all be reading off the same script. Gore has an office on West End in Loew's Vanderbilt. His house is in the city, and our codes do not allow someone to have a bunch of people working in a residential neighborhood. As for the "carbon offsets", well, *chuckle*.

Re:solar hot water

[DerekLyons]

Environmentalists want the FULL COSTS of fossil fuel use to be included when comparing the prices. What is the cost of releasing all the CO2 into the air?

And when they don't have the "FULL COSTS", they'll selectively make up costs in order to make the math come out the way they want.
 

You tax the polluting stuff versus rebating the non-polluting stuff to encourage adoption until the actual costs of the pollution can be incorporated.

Precisely my point - taxation doesn't actually equate to paying for the costs of pollution, but it *does* artificially inflate the costs of the 'polluting stuff'. (Never mind that renewable sources pollute too, but that pollution is out of sight, out of mind, and doesn't matter - because the goal isn't to reduce pollution, it's to force a predetermined outcome into being.)