IMAGE: Former President Jimmy Carter with his infamous White House solar panels
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The U.S. military’s consumption of energy makes the U.S. government the largest consumer of energy, so the government can certainly be doing a lot to improve consumption, offset unsustainable consumption, or promote sustainable consumption. Former President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, but Former President Ronald Reagan took them down. Perhaps Obama will once again integrate solar energy into the White House. It’s important to lead by example, and Obama has said before that he wants to modernize the government auto fleet by using more hybrid, PHEV, and fuel-efficient cars. From The Associated Press:
President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to make the White House “green.” In an interview with Barbara Walters, Obama said he plans to sit down with the chief usher for the presidential mansion and do an evaluation of its energy efficiency.
He says part of what he wants to do is show the American people that it’s not that hard to go green.
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Will the call it the Green House when he is done
Jeff Wilson has a great new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW. http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
A Passive House Retrofit of the White House (www.passivehouse.us) would be very interesting – an exemplar of trying to reconcile the interests of energy efficiency with those of historic preservation. If one could do an ultra-efficient Passive House Retrofit there, one could do it anywhere! We don’t buy new cars without a fuel efficiency rating, why should we spend 5 time more on our buildings without such a rating? Passive House Buildings are the only ones that come with a certification of energy-efficiency performance backed by over a decade of quality control protocols. The goal is maximum energy savings at minimal cost. See http://www.passivehouse.us to learn about this voluntary energy standard for buildings.