Question

white house solar panel teas passage

Answer 1

President Barack Obama's decision in 2010 to install White House solar panels pleased environmentalists. But he wasn't the first president to take advantage of alternative forms of energy atop the living quarters at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The first solar panels were placed on the White House more than 30 years earlier by Jimmy Carter (and removed by the very next administration.) George W. Bush installed a system on the grounds, but they weren't technically on the White House roof itself.

1979 – Carter Installs First Solar Panels

President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels on the presidential mansion amid the Arab oil embargo, which had caused a national energy crisis.

The Democratic president called for a campaign to conservative energy and, to set an example to the American people, ordered the solar panels erected in 1979, according to the White House Historical Association.

Carter predicted that

“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; harnessing the power of the Sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil.”

Their installation was seen largely as symbolic, though they did heat some water for the White House laundry and cafeteria.

1981 –Reagan Orders Solar Panels Removed

President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, and the solar panels were removed during his administration. It was clear Reagan had a completely different take on energy consumption.

Author Natalie Goldstein wrote in Global Warming:

"Reagan's political philosophy viewed the free market as the best arbiter of what was good for the country. Corporate self-interest, he felt, would steer the country in the right direction."

George Charles Szego, the engineer who persuaded Carter to install the solar panels, reportedly claimed that Reagan's Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan "felt that the equipment was just a joke, and he had it taken down." The panels were removed in 1986 when work was being done on the White House roof below the panels.

Though some claims were made that the only reason the panels were not reinstalled was because of cost concerns, the Reagan administration's opposition to renewable energy was clear: It had drastically cut the Energy Department's funding for research and development in that area, and Reagan had called out Carter on the issue during presidential debates.