Obama In Front Of Giant Solar Array (PHOTO)

I really enjoy this one -- even more than the one where Obama and Biden looked like they got their feet stuck in solar panels on that roof in Denver.

President Barack Obama delivers a speech in front of solar panels at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Wednesday, May 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Comments

[katooom]

04:33 PM on 05/30/2009

The same air force that wastes our money on a $220Billion F-22.

These are about the only guys who can afford (with OUR money) such arrays of cells.

[guinganbresil]

11:18 PM on 05/29/2009

I read in the Wall Street Journal that the plant cost $100M and saves the Air Force $1M a year.
That is a 100 year payback. If this is the wave of the future we are screwed.
I hope it is wrong. I fear it is not.

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

04:51 AM on 05/31/2009

I'm telling you, green energy will not solve global warming, only reducing livestock production works.

[nirek]

08:41 PM on 05/29/2009

Solar panels are beautiful !
Nirek

[wonketteRAWKS]

10:46 PM on 05/29/2009

So are those teleprompters in the picture!

By the way, how come there is no story on the Obama Admin giving approval for 42 mountain top removal permits? I mean they are dumping it in rivers causing sludge!

[cjt1957]

04:31 PM on 05/29/2009

This is the short talk he gave so he could count the trip west as official. This made the hundreds of thousands in airplain fuel and cost the tax payers bill insteead of the DNC's. Thanks for the bill and the pollution....

[mados123]

10:33 PM on 05/29/2009

Yeah! I can't believe he drove his "airplain" out to Vegas. His bicycle must have been in the shop.

[Lahonda]

09:25 AM on 05/29/2009

First time he met with a panel that didn't give him an Earth-shattering problem!

[Tim303]

02:29 AM on 05/29/2009

It's pretty cheap to lease a solar array for your roof nowadays. You don't have to be mega rich to afford it any more. Maintenance is free. It's just the right thing to do, whether or not it saves you money in the long run (which of course it does). And in the short run it helps you to budget as the lease is always the same amount. So far (since November) we've offset about 3000lbs of CO2 and have cost ourselves minus 6 dollars which the power company owes us. Nice.

[KataVideo]

02:34 PM on 05/28/2009

It's beautiful, but without a New Deal-style national strategy (or some national strategy) to get those cells on as many residential roofs as possible, it's just another photo-up. The tax credits have been out there for years, and they're not enough to get people 'solarized'.

I've said this before, I'll say it again:
Make Solar Power a National Security Priority.
Instead of selling it with scrawny liberals and their neckbeards and bicycle pants and lattes, put pictures of brawny manly-men on the box. Call it the "John Wayne Liberty Freedom Home Power Pack". Put coupons for solar in 12-packs of Beer. And NOT imported Beer (unless it's Corona)!!

And above all, make people realize that if we all had Solar Cells on our roofs, the net effect of any terrorist attack on a substation or power plant would be instantly blunted, because we wouldn't be dependent on the power company's umbilical cord,

[sc300nc]

04:40 PM on 05/28/2009

Unless of course the attack came at night and unless everyone had enough panels on their roofs to power most of their home load, which is very costly.

[KataVideo]

09:56 PM on 05/28/2009

It's called "battery storage". Your incremental arguments are specious at best. But thanks for you input, I guess we've proven that conservatards are against long-term investments, personal responsibility of home maintenance, back-up plans and self-sufficiency.

[Ytterbius]

10:38 PM on 05/29/2009

'The tax credits have been out there for years, and they're not enough to get people 'solarized''

The tax credits HAD been capped at $2000. This only changed as of the beginning of this year to be an unlimited 30% Tax Credit based on the full install cost.

http://AmericanSolarEconomy.blogspot.com

[lizardbrain]

11:56 AM on 05/28/2009

Yes, a great picture. It's also a fact that residential solar panels are among the best investments one can make today. All things considered (30% federal tax credits, state and local incentives, power company incentives and home appreciation), an investment in clean energy for one's home is just a smart thing to do. Obama is simply helping to advertise that fact. http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/residential-solar-energy

[sc300nc]

12:29 PM on 05/28/2009

Wrong. Unless you consider a payback in excess of 10 years a good investment.

[lizardbrain]

01:23 PM on 05/28/2009

Over the life of the system (25+ years), and given that the savings on the "free" power for 15-20 years is factored in, the return on an "investment" in solar panels for your home is in the range of 20-25%. That's a good investment, methinks, especially given the state of the economy etc.

Consider what the price of energy will be in 20 years. It won't be less than it is now. Investing in energy (solar panels) now means you are able to lock-in your costs for that energy. Or you could invest in Citibank, GM, Lehman, your choice.

[KataVideo]

02:24 PM on 05/28/2009

"Unless you consider a payback in excess of 10 years a good investment."

really? if you believe today's energy prices will hold. maybe they're going up? yes, they are. energy prices will go up and the solar investment will become more important.

also, what's the price tag on independence from a utility company? some solar cells, a single, small wind tower and the right storage and management could easily provide 100% independence during 90% of the year. What is the price tag on stored energy in a battery array when the storms have knocked out power to the rest of your town?

solar power is an excellent investment, and that is undeniable. unfortunately this nation seems to be more heavily invested in energy company corporate propaganda.

[Greenguy25]

10:29 AM on 05/28/2009

NOTE: Those panels are Solar Maid clean!!

Solar Maid is the largest network of independent solar cleaning operators in the nation and we welcome President Obama's promotion of our service.

http://www.mygreenscene.com/thesolarmaidcompany/index.html

[sc300nc]

08:55 AM on 05/28/2009

That's Obama's new traveling power source for his teleprompter.

[KataVideo]

02:26 PM on 05/28/2009

duh.. teleprompter.. duh.... teleprompter... duh....

[bloodyhands]

07:59 PM on 05/29/2009

That's all they have.

Oh ya, barry.

They need a life.

[mioffe]

06:22 AM on 05/28/2009

Any source of energy-solar panel, wind power, geothermal, nuclear are source of heat pollution and only because of that not so green as advertised!

If we will start new energy policy to make small power plants, where we could use not only electrical energy but also heat energy we will increase efficiency of using fuel energy at least three-four times. In this situation wood will provide more useful energy than the same amount of oil products or coal, which we are using right now in big power plants.

Small power plants surrounding by forests will use the cheapest and closest to consumer source of energy. Ash from burning wood can be used as the best nutrition to grow these forests. All carbon dioxide from burning wood in these plants can be solved in huge amount of water to watering these forests. Additional nutrition from that water as evaporation of water by forests will provide us with energy sources and cooling of the air of the earth.
Coal, gas, and power plants Companies will willingly pay for growing forest instead of paying for carbon dioxide emission.
What is important in these directions we can reduce waste of energy in 3-4 times and at the same time keep earth in balance.

[Tom95134]

01:43 AM on 05/28/2009

Solar panels are nice especially if they are being paid for by taxpayer money. Solar energy needs to be concentrating of high temperature Solar Tower generating systems like they are building in Spain. This is especially appropriate for our southwest where the excess heat from that technology can be use to desalinate sea water and relieve the demands on fresh water sources.

Solar tower based systems are winners all around because they will require a new electrical distribution grid (ultra-high voltage DC) to move the energy long distances with minimum losses.

While the U.S. is running around in circles trying to decide how to spend money so companies can throw it away, the Europeans are working on really finding ways to generate electrical energy using a planned multiple solar tower system located on the north shore of Africa and "piping" the energy (UHV-DC) to central Europe where it will be integrated into the existing distribution system.

[sc300nc]

08:54 AM on 05/28/2009

And how is investing all of that money in a new DC power grid when there is already an AC grid built make this a winner?

[EclecticBird]

10:36 PM on 05/27/2009

I think this photo is a great way to get people talking about solar power and alternative energy in general.

[lizardbrain]

11:48 AM on 05/28/2009

I agree.

[MyTake]

09:43 PM on 05/27/2009

Bad coordination, Mr. Prez.. You are heading out to California to raise some cash. It is such a pity that you did not make an effort to participate in the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tour (May 26th to June 3rd) where 8 vehicles are driving from Sacramento to Vancouver using hydrogen as their fuel source for the trip and yielding zero pollution.

The participants are;

Daimler
GM
Honda
Hyundai
KIA
Nissan
Toyota
Volkswagen

And all cars get 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen, Mr. Pres. But you had your Nobel Boy (CHU) destroy the DOE hydrogen fuel cell R & D funding on May 8th that was yielding remarkable progress in several area's. Where is that Chu guy, perhaps he is standing on a mountain top coal mine which you just opened up to further degrade the environment.

It is remarkable that neither yourself or Chu understand that taking a water molecule apart and putting it back together again through a fuel cell membrane yields ELECTRICTY that powers electric motors.

Yet Central Grocers in your home state is converting their entire fork lift fleet to fuel cell operation. They were so enthused with the technology that they are going to use fuel cell power plants to power a new 960,000 SF grocery story in Joliet.

So, Mr. Prez, stop with the solar, wind and CLEAN COAL nonsense and start saying HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS!

This exhibit looks more like clean coal technology.

[Clever Screen Name]

12:09 AM on 05/28/2009

It is remarkable that you don't understand how hydrogen is created.

[MyTake]

08:57 PM on 05/28/2009

Really, you haven't figured out how to split the water molecule and put it back together. Well, here is a guy in Erie Penn that figured out how to break the hydrogen oxygen molecule bond with a particular radio wave and then burn the surface of the water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwfaQZAGNTE&feature=PlayList&p=DB1198DF1C581065&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1.

Oh and there is more salt water in the oceans than there is oil or gas in the ground.

Instead of hurling insults, why don't you ask a valid question!

[vfx]

12:30 AM on 05/28/2009

Chu stopped throwing money down the Hydrogen rat hole that Bush created. Making hydrogen TAKES electricity. A lot of it. Better to just put in a battery rather than pay for someone to pump you another fuel you have to get hooked on.

Most of those car companies have dropped their hydrogen research already and the only reason they were doing it at all was because the government was giving them money to do it.

Stores, buildings, yes. That part of research has not been dropped, transportation is only feasible on a NASA budget.

Hydrogen is expensive to make, store, transport, store, pump, and process (the cars are all in the million dollar range).

Battery cars are already here.

[rf-hawaii]

01:26 AM on 05/28/2009

Hydrogen was a key waster of alternative energy funding which was thus heavily championed by the oil companies. They knew it had the least chance of panning out.

[MyTake]

09:12 PM on 05/28/2009

Ah, the government was giving them money to do it! How come only there is only 1 car in the U.S. on this list then. All the car companies would have had their cup in hand to take government money, I am sure.

Ah, most of these car companies have dropped their hydrogen research already! Well, why are they traveling from Sacramento to Vancouver then. The 2010 winter Olympics will see a hydrogen highway from Vancouver to Whistler Mountain resort with a dozen hydrogen fuel cell buses transporting the athlete's back and forth.

The reason why the technology is not being released is BECAUSE THAT G.D. AMERICAN OIL CARTEL WILL NOT INSTALL A HYDROGEN GAS PUMP ON THEIR SERVICE STATION PARKING LOT'S!

[tlgeiger62]

07:16 PM on 05/27/2009

I'm ALWAYS heartened to see him.

[absolutetruth09]

08:50 PM on 05/27/2009

You gotta be kidding me...............Your taxes are going way up

[KillTheMessenger]

01:34 AM on 05/28/2009

Yawn. So far they are not. And if they would... what would be so bad about actually paying for everything we ordered? Anything?

[KataVideo]

02:27 PM on 05/28/2009

no, my taxes aren't going to go up. and neither are the gop's poll numbers.