The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
June 21, 2011

Obama Breaks Promise to Reinstall Solar Panels on White House 
--------------------------------------------------------------



The Obama White House has reneged on a promise to reinstall solar panels
on the White House before the end of spring. U.S. Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu made the pledge last fall.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu: “Today, we’re taking another important
step. As we move towards a clean energy economy, the White House will
lead by example. I’m pleased to announce that by the end of this
spring there will be solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity
and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House. It’s been
a long time since we’ve had them up there.”

President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House in the
1970s, but they were removed by President Ronald Reagan. On Monday, Bill
Mc Kibben of 350.org criticized the Obama White House for failing to
live up to its promise.

Bill Mc Kibben: "Thirty-two years ago today, President Jimmy Carter
inaugurated a set of solar panels on the roof of the White House, and
last fall Barack Obama promised that he would follow suit. He said by
the end of the spring they’d be back up there. Unfortunately,
they’re not, and all we have is a kind of vague promise from the White
House that they’ll get there someday. That’s too bad, because we
need to demonstrate real leadership on renewable energy. The solar
panels that Jimmy Carter put up and that Ronald Reagan took down, one of
them is now in a museum in China, where 250 million people are using
solar hot water heaters right now. We need to get back in this game, and
we need Barack Obama to keep his promises and lead us on that way.”



.