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TechnoratiKeep the White House Drapes: Bring Back the Solar Panels
Remember when the McCain campaign accused Barack Obama of "already measuring the White House drapes." It was more false populism, suggesting that it was the bi-racial son of a single mother who embodied a sense of entitlement, instead of the admiral's son who couldn't remember how many houses he had. But let's take McCain's challenge literally, and ask whether Obama needs to change the White House drapes at all. Or the White House rug or furniture or décor, all of which new presidents traditionally replace when they move in. Obama could replace all this as expected, and no one would deem it exceptional. But suppose instead that he took the opportunity to break with tradition, and make a powerful symbolic stand by instead using the already allocated money to bring back additional solar panels (Bush actually brought back some in 2002 but more could be added), and make the White House more energy efficient.
Given tough economic times, we're all going to have to make hard choices, so why not begin with these symbols. Suppose Obama seized the moment by publicly saying something like "I know the President or their spouse traditionally selects a new rug and new décor. We're supposed to measure the White House drapes and change them. But these are hard times, and we're going to be careful how we spend the public's resources. So we're not going to redecorate the While House. We're certainly going to do our best to reverse the past administration's failed policies. But furniture is just furniture, and we aren't going to replace what doesn't need to be replaced."
"What we are going to do," Obama could continue, "is to use some of the money we saved to put more of the solar collectors back on the White House roof, the successors of those Jimmy Carter installed when he initiated his renewable energy programs. And we're going to build on efforts that go back to the Clinton years and do everything we can to make the White House and all our Federal buildings models of energy efficiency, because if they aren't, that's something we can fix in a way that will not only help fight climate change, but will also pay back our investment. Much as we'd love to redecorate, there are more important priorities."
This would mark a new direction from trying to consume our way out of our every predicament. After 9/11 my local Seattle paper ran a letter which proclaimed. "Be a patriot. Go out to the mall and buy a sofa." I have nothing against sofas, but all the sofas in the world can't solve the problems that fed Bin Laden's murderous attack, and no matter how lovely the new rug, drapes or sofa Barack and Michelle Obama might bring to the White House, they won't shift us an inch from our economic freefall and our despoliation of our planet But solar collectors and insulation can. They're a core part of the solution. So why not start than at the top, with every possible symbol, including those which promote the profoundly conservative virtues of frugality. If Obama wants to really mark a presidential turning point, I can't think of a better place to start.
21 Comments so far
Show AllAnd now for your Arctic methane release forecast:
I'm really surprised at how slowly the Arctic Ocean's ice is re-forming. November 18, and the ice is starting to form at Point Barrow on the northernmost tip of Alaska, in the Arctic Ocean. The ocean has been holding so much heat that it took this long to start freezing over. One can still sail almost all the way around Spitzbergen. Soviet northern ports are ice-free. The west coast of Greenland is still pretty much ice-free, while the east coast of Greenland benefits from a southerly current that sweeps a thin veneer of Arctic Ocean ice floes down the coast.
Discussion: This year's first-ever recorded ocean methane release (20 million tons, I read) may have also run quite a ways into autumn. This lag in ice formation also bodes ill for next spring and summer, with less ice on the ocean, more heat deeper in the ocean, and an 11 year cyclical solar maximum approaching. I expect a cooker next summer and worse beyond that.
"Methane gas in our atmosphere rose by 27 million tons last year after 10 years of virtually no increase. There is now 5.6 billion tons of methane in the air. That represents an increase of only 0.125% but, methane is 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide."
http://www.examiner.com/x-325-Global-Warming-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Methane-Gas-in-the-atmosphere-on-the...
The first step that should be taken before installing "solar panels" (not sure if Loeb meant PV or thermal) would be to perform an energy audit, or rating. This is a necessary preliminary step taken to assess the energy demands of the White House before a costly power generation system is installed. The information gathered from the audit can provide cost-savings analysis. Quite often, the least expensive investment is air sealing, followed up by adding insulation. The last step would be to add "solar."
Chattus
Nanoo
Perhaps the Bushs' will take everything with them like the Clintons' did.
The Clinton theft charges of 2001 were investigated by the GAO back then and found to be false.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_hillary_clinton_take_china_from_the_white_house_when_they_left_office
additionally . . . whatever money would be saved if the Obamas keep the current drapes, etc. . . it isn't even a drop in the bucket . . . it is nothing. the cost versus benefit of this savings is miniscule. . . .
we need good thinking. . . but this suggestion is so petty and out of touch with the fact that the Obamas have a right to make their home . . . THEIR HOME HOME>.. get it?
I love the suggestion to install more solar panels on the White House.
And I think the suggestion that Obamas make a symbolic gesture and then live with the decorating choices of another family is small-minded and ridiculous.
The Obamas have every right to make their home feel like their home. They are going to be working hard, living in an intense spotlight. I want them to create a space that will nurture them in their private life.
This suggestion reminds me that lefties can be way too dogmatic.
Advocate: Carter installed the solar panels. Reagan took them down. Reagan also discontinued the tax credit for solar hot water systems and hundreds of dealer/installers went out of business nationwide. T. Boone Pickens must have licked Reagan's boots for that move.
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Sure, the sensible me would like to see modest changes in the White House when the Obamas move in. On the other hand, I'd like to see the mansion thoroughly fumigated and every last vestige of GWB eliminated as a symbols of change. So there's a practical side and a vengeful side to me but I'm certainly not alone.
Either way, President Obama must again solarize the White House then convert all official vehicles to plug-in hybrids. The best way to set an example is to lead by example.
http://freesolaradvice.blogspot.com
While he's at it, where does the rainwater that collects on the white house roof go?
they ought to catch it to water the grounds...
Sioux Rose
SAN DIEGO: It's not about revenge. One branch of psychic ability involves holding objects to pick up on events. The trees rings tell the story of weather, and all entities HOLD memory. I would NEVER ask the Obamas to sleep in the same bed Bush slept in. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes incense are used or sage to smudge areas and spiritually clear them. The entire White House requires a set of shaman to do that before anyone with an even remotely clean spirit endeavors to enter there.
Hey Siouxrose--
Remember how the Guatamalans broughyt in Indigenous medicine men to spiritually cleanse an historic gravesite after its visit by Bush and his entourage? Maybe they could do the job--part of the "transition team". Oh wow it is so much relief to get a good guffaw over this soon to be over (but not soon enough!) bunch in Washington.
LOL at the beautiful poetic justice of such a spectacle!
Poet
Sioux Rose
Sounds good to me, and would certainly add COLOR To the White House. Maybe it should be renamed THE INTEGRATED HOUSE...
A few years ago, I read an article about the City of Chicago manufacturing solar panels to install on their public buildings. President-elect Obama must surely know all about this. As to the new furnishings. The White House warehouses many furnishings from past administrations from which to select. Doubtless, there is labor involved. But not much, if any, in the way of new purchases. I am truly surprised that Bush allowed installation of solar panels. He might not even have known they were there. Solar collectors and windmills are tried and true practical energy solutions. Insulation reduces energy costs. I had read that Bush's ranch house in Texas has solar features installed before he was ever the owner.
I am beginning to think that maybe Paul Rogat Loeb is not married. Asking your wife to live with somebody elses furnishings and decor is a quick way to make her feel that she and the kids are occupying a museum instead of a personal residence. If momma Obama ain't happy, ain't nobody in that building gonna be happy, believe it.
I like the idea of installing the solar panels on this and all other federal buildings as a symbol of the nation's determination to break free of dependency on foreign oil. We could pay for it out of the Pentagon's expense account and tipping monies for several months. Or we could use the costs saved from closing down a base a month for the next four years to pay for refurbishing all federal buildings with solar power generatiuon.
Poet
Really, is that so much to ask, just keep the old stuff, which is probably top of the line anyway? Such a simple geture would go such a long way, that and adopting a mutt. With dogs as well as people, I'll take a mutt anyday, just look at the President.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if Barack and Michelle Obama left everything as is except in the kids' rooms and private areas. I am sure the White House is not too shabby. That saved money could go to solar panels or to help some homeless people.
Joe
All federal buildings should have solar panels, and other efficient designs in their architecture. It can be done - the new federal building in San Francisco is quite efficient, for instance. It just takes some vision and leadership.
Canceling the phony GWoT would free up more resources for a renewable energy program than the proposed symbolic gesture.
If the action called for in the article occurs, then this is the beginning of the long overdue repudiation of the legacy of Grandpa Caligula.
www.wunderman-comics.com
The "great" Ronald Reagan. Thanks a lot.
QUOTE:
Bring Back the Solar Panels
QUESTION:
What president removed them?
Ronald Reagan pointedly removed Jimmy Carter's solar panels to set a tone. Reportedly the panels were sold off, and now are still in operation elsewhere.