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White House plans modified Washington Monument in 'carbon-free' National Mall
One of President Obama's key campaign promises was to make the U.S. a leader in sustainable green energy, and by the looks of this concept, he intends to lead by example. The White House unveiled today a plan for a 10-megawatt wind turbine near the top of The Washington Monument, with underground feeder cables to send the generated power to the D.C. grid.
Boring traditionalists are likely to reject anything that alters the Washington Monument so radically as unpatriotic, but imagine the green message it would send to the rest of the world. Queen Elizabeth recently bought a humungous wind turbine of her own, so Obama clearly believed that America should follow the U.K.'s example and unveil a bold green symbol for America.
In fact, 10 megawatts would actually be enough to power all of the Washington, D.C., metro area, so maybe he plans sells power back to local utility Pepco put a dent in that trillion-dollar federal deficit.
Via The White House
By Gamerguy1701 at 3:13 PM ON 04/01/09
Why not just build a 10 megawatt turbine near the city, rather than defacing a national monument? Not to mention that the top of the Washington Monument doesn't turn, so wouldn't the turbine only work if the wind is blowing in the right direction?
By JWTowsonu at 3:21 PM ON 04/01/09
This has to be an April Fools joke. Weak.
By Gamerguy1701 at 3:32 PM ON 04/01/09
You're probably right. There's no way this is real.
By Brass Orchid at 3:44 PM ON 04/01/09
You can believe that global warming caused by carbon dioxide is real but not this? Perhaps you are not aware of the true threat. If the world warms, water vapor increases. All deserts are threatened by grasses. Coastal flooding is offset by increased groundwater, snows, glaciers and other forms taken by abundant clean fresh water.
By Al at 4:34 PM ON 04/01/09
Well it's about time we had a president that wasn't afraid to treat all our forefathers and visionaries with the disrespect they truly deserve after creating the seeds of greatness in our country.
I'm sure he's got architects already set to carve him into mount rushmore. We don't need to see those old white guys anyway, they're on our money.
Oh wait there's another idea...
By Anonymous at 5:08 PM ON 04/01/09
Weak sauce april fools. Oh, to Brass Monkey, didn't you get the memo? It is "climate change" now, not global warming, since the earth has not measurable increased its temperature in ten years...
By Al at 5:28 PM ON 04/01/09
No way! The world is going to boil by next year if we don't do something! Gore said so! He wouldn't lie to us about our absolute control over the planet.
Would he?
By murc at 6:04 PM ON 04/01/09
clearly a april fools joke.
If Obama tried to pass something like this...I'd have to shoot him myself.
By Treehugger at 8:58 PM ON 04/01/09
I wish this weren't a joke. I wish Obama had the cajones to do something this radical and revolutionary, but, alas, we've elected another tool of the establishment.
By treehugger at 9:00 PM ON 04/01/09
I wish this weren't a joke. I wish Obama had the cajones to do something this radical and revolutionary, but, alas, we've elected another tool of the Establishment.
By spwamela at 11:13 PM ON 04/01/09
Well...hey! Plop a turbine right here and fire her up! There's a lot of wind blowin' around this webpage!
By IsoTek at 11:34 PM ON 04/01/09
@Treehugger....Go suck a root, you treehugging dirt munching druid. I happen to be from DC and would be pissed if anyone attempted to do that to the Washington Monument. Its annoying enough I used to hear out of towners making lewd phallus jokes about it. If mister Obama wants windpower in DC. then I suggest he look toward building some out in the patomac or perhaps the rolling hills of Montgomery County.
By handiman at 8:39 PM ON 04/11/09
I wonder if anyone noted that this item was dated April 1?
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