On June 20th, 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife climbed to the White House roof to celebrate the installation of its first-ever solar energy panels.
Carter was a longtime proponent of alternative energy sources, having presided over a nation still recovering from the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. In 1979, the year the panels were installed, he also presented a plan in his State of the Union Address to put the country on a clean energy path. (In particular, Carter wanted 20 percent of energy to come from renewable sources by the year 2000.)
The White House solar-heating system cost $28,000 and consisted of 32 photovoltaic panels powerful enough to provide hot water for the entire White House. Carter also had a wood-burning stove installed during his presidency to offset some of the drafty rooms.
“A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people,” Carter said (rather ominously) of the panels.
The solar panel system remained on the roof until 1986, when President Ronald Reagan put them into a federal storage facility in Virginia. In 1992, the United College of Maine had them installed in a dining hall to generate hot water for students. The panels remained there until they wore out in 2004. One the college kept for historical significance, while another was donated to the Smithsonian Institute.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, only 10 percent of the country’s consumption currently comes from renewable sources.
