Earlier this month, President Obama announced that more than 300 organizations in the public and private sector have made commitments to advance the deployment of solar power and invest in energy efficiency.
(Screen shot provided by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy video/Released)
At the same time, recognizing that solar power is an increasingly important building block toward a clean energy future, the White House offered a behind-the-scenes look at its own rooftop solar panels, which are generating clean renewable energy from the sun. This helps to lower the energy bill of our nation’s most historic home while also serving as a symbol that American solar energy technology is ready for millions of other homeowners across the country today.
Over the course of the Obama Administration, U.S. solar electricity generation has increased by by ten-fold and, in the last year alone added more than 23,600 new jobs in solar. But there is more to do before solar energy can be effectively harnessed by every American. At the annual DOE SunShot Grand Challenge Summit in California, the administration announced an even more aggressive strategy to address the hidden, non-hardware “soft costs” associated with solar deployments on residential rooftops. These soft costs make up over half of the total system cost of deploying solar and include things such as paperwork to apply for a permit, and cumbersome rules around installation. In 2012, the DOE ran a Rooftop Solar Challenge which brought together local officials, utilities, private industry, non-profits, and other stakeholders in 22 communities across the Nation to simplify the solar installation process and succeeded in reducing permitting time by 40 percent and fees by over 10 percent – opening the door to make it faster and easier for more than 47 million Americans to go solar.
The military is jumping onto the solar powered train as well.
The U.S. Army dedicated its largest solar photovoltaic system at White Sands Missile Range last year. West Point, the premier United States Military Academy, is a Net Zero Energy pilot installation. The installation of solar panels on the roof of the Lichtenberg Tennis Center – 780 panels, to be exact – represents West Point‘s continuing efforts to achieve energy sustainability.
Flexible solar blanket of made of solar cells. (photo provided by the Naval Research Laboratory/Released)
The Naval Research Lab even created a type of portable solar panel blanket, designed to be carried easily by service members and used to charge batteries in the field. Moving forward, DOE will expand on these early efforts with a focus on connecting citizens with the data, tools, and skills they need to make solar more accessible. At the DOE SunShot Initiative, the DOE launched a new four part strategy of the following activities:
Empowering state and local decision-makers through timely and actionable resources, peer networks, and technical assistance
Harnessing big data, analysis and technical solutions to support the many stakeholders involved in solar deployment
Training an innovative solar workforce to enable the solar industry to meet growing demand
Developing solar finance and business solutions to expand access to capital and accelerate market growth
The first deliverable of this ambitious new strategy is the SunShot Catalyst prize—a new open-innovation program with more than $500,000 in available prizes to help identify and launch cutting-edge data and software startups that are leveraging tools already established by the DOE national laboratories. The submission deadline for the Catalyst ideation contest is June 20, 2014. From the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Cyrus Wadia is the Assistant Director for Clean Energy and Materials R&D at the White House OSTP and Elaine Ulrich is the Program Manager for Balance of Systems-Soft Costs at the DOE SunShot Initiative. Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed with Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for science and technology in the military. Follow Armed with Science on Facebook and Twitter! ———- Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.