'Ineffective, Expensive'

Solar energy is "ineffective, expensive and unreliable and will continue to be in our lifetimes and probably our children's lifetimes and beyond," Pyle said in an interview.

The panels will mark the first time solar energy has been used for the private residence of the White House, according to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Carter's panels were above offices and used for hot water, not electricity.

Under President George W. Bush, the National Park Service installed solar photovoltaics and a solar hot-water heater on smaller White House facilities near the main building.

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who met with administration officials and led rallies calling for Obama to return solar panels to the White House, said today the administration "listened to the Americans who asked for solar on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers who told them this is the path to the future."

The symbolism of solar energy in use at the White House may lead to an "upsurge in business,'" Danny Kennedy, co-founder of closely held Sungevity Inc., a solar company based in Oakland, California, said in an interview today. Sungevity led a "Solar on the White House" campaign earlier this year.

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