re: #69 ObserverArt

Hmmm. Being reminded about Carter and solar panels makes me think of the ultimate Obama executive order.

He orders the White House be turned into the Green House and installs solar, wind, geothermal and all kinds of other technologies as they come on board in every square inch of space of property all the way out to the Mall and makes the whole shebang self sufficient and enough power to generate the Capitol and the entire Washington Mall all the way to lighting Lincoln!

Now that would send a bunch of messages and turn heads into explodey things.

Thing is, a bunch of that was already done…by W:

But as famous as the Carter installation — and subsequent Reagan removal — was, it was George W. Bush administration that installed the first active solar electric system at the White House (Carter’s panels were largely symbolic, though they were used for heating water). In 2002, multiple solar grids were installed on the White House grounds. The installation was done quietly, with far less fanfare than Carter’s, but the panels provided energy to several White House operations. According to a New York Times article from 2003, “a grid of 167 solar panels on the roof of a maintenance shed has been delivering electricity to the White House grounds. Another solar installation has been helping to provide hot water. Yet another has been keeping the water warm in the presidential pool.”

I never knew about this; I wonder if the main reason it was done to little fanfare was so that the Big Oil wing of the party wouldn’t give him major shit about it.