Solar Power On the White House 405
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."
solar hot water (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How does it get any light? (Score:2, Informative)
I've seen the White House on Google Maps and Google Earth and there seems to be some kind of thick cloud obscuring the area. Will they generate any electricity with these things or is it just another feel-good liberal gesture with no real world effect?
Haha, but you're out of date [google.com] -- looks quite sunny to me!
Re:solar hot water (Score:5, Informative)
Re:lol (Score:4, Informative)
Probably because that generation of solar panels sucked, efficiency-wise, and IIRC several models also lost a large percent of their functionality after a few years.
Re:How does it get any light? (Score:2, Informative)
I've seen the White House on Google Maps and Google Earth and there seems to be some kind of thick cloud obscuring the area. Will they generate any electricity with these things or is it just another feel-good liberal gesture with no real world effect?
It's the East coast, so it's mild compared to southern heat, and not nearly as sunny as Cali, but there are definitely plenty of sunny days.
Re:Why do Americans have problems with solar power (Score:2, Informative)
Yes there is a extremely good reason we could care less about solar and especially solar electrical power. My electric bill averages about 80 dollars a month, I live in the central part of
the country at that rate it would take about 30 years to reach break even, if I could generate all my electrical needs with a 30k investment. As long as we have plentiful coal resources which
we do electricity is a relatively cheap commodity.
Reagan did not remove PV panels AFAIK (Score:5, Informative)
He removed solar thermal panels, probably much less efficient than the evacuated tubes used today, when the roof was being repaired in 1986:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE2DF113BF937A1575BC0A960948260 [nytimes.com]
They were not reinstalled because of cost effectiveness issue. I also heard maintenance was a pain. They were donated to a university, IIRC.
Bush also had solar panels installed:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/technology/how-it-works-from-a-white-house-roof-solar-power-proclaims-gains.html [nytimes.com]
Many places are spinning this story politically no doubt.
BTW, I think solar thermal and more insulation is a great, cost effective thing. PV, otoh, not so much yet.
Re:lol (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.unity.edu/News/solar1004.htm [unity.edu]
Re:Why do Americans have problems with solar power (Score:2, Informative)
Sure PV is only cost effective if you otherwise would have to run lines out to where you want to go, but solar-thermal hot water heating (and dare I saw wind generation) is already competitive, if not already the better long term investment.
couple it with an inground-thermal mass heat pump (when building a new house), and correct front window aspect, and the long term comparison is not even close.
but of course this is just the broken record replying to trolls.
Re:Why do Americans have problems with solar power (Score:3, Informative)
Re:solar hot water (Score:3, Informative)
Quietly my ass (Score:5, Informative)
"...— which was quietly removed during Reagan's tenure in office"
I don't know what the OP is talking about. This was done very early on and was publicized widely, as a way of showing how the Reagan administration was forward looking and confident, as opposed to the defeatist Carter administration (or something like that - I could never really grasp Reagan's propaganda). What was done fairly quietly was the complete evisceration and cancelation of the Carter era alternative energy research program, which was just at the stage of showing promise. What was left unsaid was how pleased the oil companies were by all of this.
Bush put in Solar power on the White house grounds (Score:2, Informative)
Re:2012: President Palin removes solar panels (Score:4, Informative)
Don't you feel stupid for posting that blindly partisan crap just a few seconds after this:
He removed solar thermal panels, probably much less efficient than the evacuated tubes used today, when the roof was being repaired in 1986:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE2DF113BF937A1575BC0A960948260 [nytimes.com] [nytimes.com]
I call BS on that. Those panels were removed to make a point, and a partisan point at that - killing alternative energy was one of Reagan's campaign points in 1980. He mentioned it in his frakking debate with Carter. Reagan described the entire alternative energy R&D program as a waste of money, killed it deader than a doornail, and this was part of that campaign. And, by the way, they were only
"donated" to a college [scientificamerican.com] because an admin at the college campaigned to get them from whatever GSA warehouse they were stuck in.
Re:lol (Score:5, Informative)
Reagan cut the budget or was it Congress? Last I read the power of the purse belongs to the Legislative branch.
Re:Reagan did not remove PV panels AFAIK (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carter-white-house-solar-panel-array [scientificamerican.com]
Reagan also halved the Energy Department's conservation and alternative fuels budget, reduced research spending on photovoltaics by two-thirds, and removed energy tax credits for homeowners. I think Reagans track record on energy policies can basically sum up how he felt about those solar panels.
And regarding Bush: TFA that you link states that:
Since September, a grid of 167 solar panels on the roof of a maintenance shed has been delivering electricity to the White House grounds. James Doherty, an architect for the National Park Service, decided to install the systems a few years ago.
"A few years ago" from when they were installed in September 2002 would have been before Bush was even president. So how does he get credit for those solar panels, exactly?
Re:How does it get any light? (Score:5, Informative)
I live in the Northeast, and I have powered my house with a solar panel for almost ten years (there is no municipal electrical service where I live). A sunny day isn't required for the panels to work; they work better in full sunlight, but work quite well with cloud cover. Mine will even charge my batteries slowly on a clear night when the moon is full. They actually work better in the winter -- even though the days are shorter, reflected light from snow cover results in greater ambient light and by extension, better charging. Does it snow much in DC?
My solar panel is 18" x 48", IIRC, and I just have the one. It's an older model, and not as efficient as the new ones, but it meets all of my admittedly modest electrical needs and then some. This will work fine, assuming it's properly engineered.
Re:How does it get any light? (Score:4, Informative)
Does it snow much in DC?
No. And when it does they shut the whole city down. I'm from Upstate NY -- we don't stop our normal routine for anything short of whiteout blizzard conditions. DC shuts down if they get more than a dusting. That's probably a good thing because none of the morons on the roadways south of the Mason-Dixon line have any clue how to drive in snow.
Re:Bright lights and warmth.... (Score:3, Informative)
yeah but it literally took more energy to *take them down* than it took to leave them there.
Not when they had to take them down anyways for roof repairs [nytimes.com] anyways.
I thought I could edit my previous comment after I found this article, but it seems I could only post another one.