White House Misses Solar Panels Deadline

Summer officially begins today, which means spring ended yesterday, which means the White House has a broken promise it made last October: to install solar panels on the roof of the most iconic home in the nation by spring 2011. The Energy Department did release a statement yesterday, saying it's "on the path" to completing the project. But it cited the complexities of the contracting process, noting that details and a schedule will only be shared "after the competitive procurement process is completed."

Environmentalists aren't too happy. "Nine months is a pretty long time. You can have a baby in that time," one laments to the AP, "One more summer of beautiful, strong sunlight going to waste, just bouncing off the White House roof." But the owner of one solar power company is "not surprised. They're trying to get it right on the most famous home in the world, and there'd be all sorts of heritage rules and red tape." (Click to read about Google's recent major investment in solar technology.)