US turns to solar power, from White House down

Age
Thursday 7/10/2010 Page: 14

THE US has opened up its vast public lands to solar power projects, as the White House agreed to set up its own solar panels in a visible show of support for alternative energy. President Barack Obama has pledged to help build a new green economy, but Congress has baulked at mandatory cuts in carbon emissions. A study this year found that China has overtaken the US in green investment.

The Interior Department, which supervises most of the US's 263 million hectares of public land, said it had approved projects in southern California's deserts by units of companies Tessera and Chevron. "Both will use innovative technologies from US-based companies and both will bring jobs and energy to our nation's economy", Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. Federal authorities had put a freeze in 2008 on solar proposals as it assessed effects on the environment, with some fearing the California projects would endanger wildlife, including sheep and rare lizards.

Mr Salazar said that the companies had agreed to programs to preserve wildlife. He said the Interior Department would soon approve additional solar projects, which until the end of the year would enjoy tax incentives. He made the announcement hours after the Obama administration said it would install two solar panels on the White House, hoping to encourage Americans in lesser known residences to consider solar power a reliable alternative. Former president Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the executive mansion in 1979, but Ronald Reagan took them down. The Obama White House last month politely rebuffed an activist who showed up with a Carter-era panel.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that the new project "reflects President Obama's strong commitment to US leadership in solar power and the jobs it will create here at home". "Deploying solar power technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come", Mr Chu told a conference on greening the federal government. The Energy Department will open up competitive bidding to choose a company to install the panels, said Mr Chu, who earlier ordered temperature-cooling white paint on the roofs of his agency's buildings.

It is the latest green project for the Obama White House. First lady Michelle Obama launched a garden on the lawn in a bid to persuade Americans to eat fresher, healthier food. The Obama administration tapped into last year's stimulus package to encourage solar and other renewable energies, hoping they will spur a new green economy and reduce carbon emissions that scientists say are causing dangerous climate change.

Legislation to mandate cuts in carbon emissions has all but died in the US Senate, with critics saying the plan would be too costly at a time of a weak economy. But President Obama pledged in January that the federal government would do its share by cutting carbon emissions by 28% by 2020 compared with levels in recent years.

Bill McKibben, the founder of a climate advocacy group last month brought to the White House one of the original Carter panels now stored at Unity College in Maine but did not receive a commitment. Mr McKibben praised the Obama administration, saying it was listening to some 40,000 people who had signed a petition for the solar panels. "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", he said.