Solar Energy has had a complicated history in America, but it has been growing steadily throughout President Barack Obama 's tenure as president. During the Energy Crisis in the 1970s President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the White House, but within just a few years President Ronald Reagan removed them. Meanwhile, other countries like Germany, Japan, and Italy greatly expanded their solar industries, leading them to far surpass America 's. While solar has had a difficult history in the United States, but after years of setbacks, the Obama administration has been working harder to make solar energy a key part of America 's sustainability plan. Overall, President Obama 's pro-solar policies have helped the growth of the solar
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Previously Solar states were concentrated in certain states that provided large incentives, like California and New Jersey, but now Obama is trying to expand this policy nation wide, especially to states with very sunny climates. Furthermore, Obama helped facilitate joint agreements between private companies like Apple and Home Deport and federal agencies like the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to increase solar project development (Eilperin 2014).The president decided to take a similar approach to his health care reform plan by allowing states to assess their own energy needs and decide how they want to implement renewable energy resources including solar (Baker 2014). Furthermore, taking into consideration all the costs of producing large scale solar powered plants with their added long-term benefits, Obama 's administration expanded solar tax credits to cover real estate and investment vehicles (Cardwell 2015). These pro-solar policies have helped the industry grow dramatically over the last couple of …show more content…
The failure of the government-backed Solyndra, a solar company that was supposed to be revolutionary, upset many Americans (US Official News 2014b). Some have criticized the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station near the Las Vegas area because the station needs copious amounts of land, while the heat from its mirrors is a danger to the area 's birds (Investor 's Business Daily 2014). Moreover, Obama 's so-called "War on Coal" has proven to be controversial because the U.S. already has large amounts of coal, while solar energy only accounts for 0.1% of America 's net electricity generated (US Official News 2014b). Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell has been working with contacts outside of Congress to ensure legal delays on Obama 's proposed solar projects to ensure the livelihood of coal related jobs in his state (Davenport 2015). However, this kind of backlash fails to see the job potential the solar market possesses. In 2014 the Energy Department launched the Solar Ready Vets Program, aiming to train 25,000 veterans to install solar equipment by 2025, and already three of the largest American solar companies, Vivint Solar, SolarCity, and SunPower, have committed to the new program (US Official News 2014a). Meanwhile Obama and the Energy Department have created new training programs at community colleges to help 50,000 people enter the solar industry by 2020 (Eilperin 2014).
Previously Solar states were concentrated in certain states that provided large incentives, like California and New Jersey, but now Obama is trying to expand this policy nation wide, especially to states with very sunny climates. Furthermore, Obama helped facilitate joint agreements between private companies like Apple and Home Deport and federal agencies like the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to increase solar project development (Eilperin 2014).The president decided to take a similar approach to his health care reform plan by allowing states to assess their own energy needs and decide how they want to implement renewable energy resources including solar (Baker 2014). Furthermore, taking into consideration all the costs of producing large scale solar powered plants with their added long-term benefits, Obama 's administration expanded solar tax credits to cover real estate and investment vehicles (Cardwell 2015). These pro-solar policies have helped the industry grow dramatically over the last couple of …show more content…
The failure of the government-backed Solyndra, a solar company that was supposed to be revolutionary, upset many Americans (US Official News 2014b). Some have criticized the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station near the Las Vegas area because the station needs copious amounts of land, while the heat from its mirrors is a danger to the area 's birds (Investor 's Business Daily 2014). Moreover, Obama 's so-called "War on Coal" has proven to be controversial because the U.S. already has large amounts of coal, while solar energy only accounts for 0.1% of America 's net electricity generated (US Official News 2014b). Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell has been working with contacts outside of Congress to ensure legal delays on Obama 's proposed solar projects to ensure the livelihood of coal related jobs in his state (Davenport 2015). However, this kind of backlash fails to see the job potential the solar market possesses. In 2014 the Energy Department launched the Solar Ready Vets Program, aiming to train 25,000 veterans to install solar equipment by 2025, and already three of the largest American solar companies, Vivint Solar, SolarCity, and SunPower, have committed to the new program (US Official News 2014a). Meanwhile Obama and the Energy Department have created new training programs at community colleges to help 50,000 people enter the solar industry by 2020 (Eilperin 2014).