SolarTown met with Mr. Paul Brandus, a White House correspondent with a huge interest in green issues. Brandus is a strong advocate of renewable energy, relating a story on how he personally asked President Obama when solar panels would be installed on the White House, on three separate occasions. Although no solar modules have yet to grace the President’s residence, Brandus expressed his desire to see the 132 rooms of the White House heated by the rays of the sun and the power of the wind, calling the act a great symbolic value to the nation. Incorporating solar and other forms of alternative energy into the lives of Americans is still a major challenge. Interest in environmental-related topics is only illustrated when major catastrophes such as the BP oil spill occurs. After the disaster dies down, the interest responds accordingly. Brandus believes that it will take awhile for solar and renewable energy to fully assimilate into everyone’s lives.
Posts Tagged ‘solar panels’
White House Correspondent Paul Brandus Meets with SolarTown
Thursday, July 15th, 2010Is Solar Energy Back on the Agenda?
Friday, June 25th, 2010“The time to embrace a clean energy future is now,” said the President during his talk on the BP oil spill earlier this month. For much of the past year, the nation’s energy policy has played second fiddle to , well, everything else, but primarily health care and most recently financial reform. Deadlines have come and gone, and with the mid-terms elections around the corner, it is hard to see how Obama will pick a rabbit out of the hat and push the energy agenda forward.
What is clear is that as states and local governments are cutting back on their solar energy programs, just at the time when the solar industry needs this support the most. The Maryland program cut its rebate program with only a few days notice. Take a look at our SolarTown news stories to read about some of the states that are throwing their renewable energy programs to the wind in an effort to close budget gaps.
Racers, Start Your Solar Engines!
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Ken Stadlin of Kenergy Solar in Maryland came up to talk solar and give the kids a solar run for their money. Ken was there to press the kids to participate in the Junior Solar Sprint Car Competition organized by the US Department of Energy. This outstanding program challenges kids from all over the country to work together and build solar cars. Sounds dull—no chance! The kids love it but of course they need parents and teachers to help organize these events. And that is where Ken comes in. Ken wants to get kids and their parents from around the region more involved in the Junior Solar Sprints.
Earth Day 2010: Turn Off the Lights!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010The school where my kids go encouraged all students to walk to school today. We usually drive them to school, so we had to get them up and out of the house a little earlier this morning. I got up and went downstairs to see if they had already gotten up and saw that all of the lights in the kitchen were on and all of the lights in the den were on and all of the lights in the TV room were on—and no sign of my kids who were still upstairs watching Mythbusters on a laptop. Now you have to realize that my kids are generally very environmentally conscious and very supportive of SolarTown’s mission to promote solar energy. But there sometimes is this huge gap between your views and beliefs and taking action on your beliefs. My son is a hard core believer but a less than hard core doer. And that is the challenge we have on Earth Day: how do we move from what we believe to taking actions, even modest ones like turning off the lights when we are out of the room
The Solar Generation
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Buried on page 20 of our local paper was a news item “Students push solar for NCS.” The National Cathedral School may not qualify as you your average American school. (For those of you not in the know, NCS is a private school home to some of sons and daughters of the elite of the Nation’s Capital.) But what is going on at NCS may be a glimpse of what the future holds. The article in the Northwest Current chronicles how NCS is now planning on installing 32 solar panels on a century old (read historical) building at NCS—due to the insistence and perseverance of two students at NCS, Charlotte Zimmerman and Christina Boulineaux. The two raised $20,000 and even interviewed solar contractors so that they could place these solar panels on NCS.
Solar Towns All Over America
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009OK, the residential solar market did not exactly explode in 2009 as many had hoped in 2008 when the price of oil was approaching $150 a barrel. The world economic crisis, lack of financing, cheap oil, constrained governmental budgets all contributed to a less than lackluster year as measured by the expectations that were set in a rosier time a year earlier. Nevertheless, there are some bright spots and probably the brightest of them all is that as prices for solar panels have come down, and the landscape for economic incentives has stabilized, the solar industry has hit mainstream and more importantly, Main Street.
The Solar Crown Goes to Germany
Friday, October 16th, 2009
Congratulations to Team Germany for winning the 2009 Solar Decathlon. With a massive 11.1 kW array, and thin film on the walls, there was no one who could match their net metering prowess. Illinois finished second; California, third, and Ontario fourth. Make no mistake about it. Germany won based on the strength of its PV array. It finished in the top five of the other nine categories, except for communications. On net metering, it received 150—out of a total of 150 points. This is the photo of the winning entry.
SolarTown Greets Solar Decathlon Participants
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
SolarTown held a reception for some of the Solar Decathlon participants last evening at our offices. We created a photo gallery in our offices of the 20 solar homes on the National Mall—which made a great backdrop to some of the evening’s lively discussions.
Sunny Day Fries Solar Decathlon in the Capital
Friday, October 9th, 2009
The day belonged not to Barack Obama, but to the visionary students on the National Mall who came from not only the US, but also from Canada, Germany and Spain to showcase their solar homes in the Solar Decathalon. There were lines at every house and some of the lines were not short—some people waited for as long as 30 minutes to get into some of the houses.