Sungevity, a solar company doing swift business in California and Colorado, is waiting to hear back from White House officials about whether or not Barack Obama’s administration will accept its generous offer to mount a complete solar system on the historic building.

If a solar company offered to mount photovoltaic panels on your roof for free and donate the entire system to you without charge, you’d think it would be a no-brainer, right?

“But we realize even a no-brainer is kind of complex in this context,” said Danny Kennedy, Sungevity founder.

The company, which was founded in April, 2009, has grown quickly and sees significant potential for growth in the solar industry, especially if the president makes the symbolic gesture of mounting panels on the White House roof.

Sungevity made its offer last week when Kennedy traveled with Bill McKibben, nationally recognized environmental activist, and a group of students from Unity College in Maine with a 1970s solar water heating panel that had been installed on the White House roof by Jimmy Carter and removed by Ronald Reagan.

The group made its appearance at the White House to publicly encourage the president to put solar back on the landmark building where he and his family live.

The technology has advanced since the 1970s when Carter installed 32 panels. While that technology is still valid and functional, Kennedy said the Obamas would probably be smart to upgrade to solar electric panels.

If the First family takes the lead, Kennedy believes the rest of the country will follow and the solar industry will benefit.

“When Michelle Obama planted a backyard garden, seed sales rose 30 percent,” Kennedy said. “If the Obamas can do this, if they walk the talk, then it will be very significant.”

He said the idea he hopes to promote by getting solar on the roof of the most important home in the country is that home solar is the future, and people can power their homes this way without having to designate huge chunks of land or build new solar power plants.

Solar is something the individual can do at home to make a big impact, Kennedy said. And he wants the Obamas to show America just that.

His company has had some word from White house bureaucrats that there is interest, but that the process will be more complicated than Kennedy showing up with a pile of photovoltaic solar panels wrapped in a bow.