Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go?

[jpak]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carter-white-house-solar-panel-array

The White House itself once harvested the power of the sun. On June 30, 1979, the Carter administration installed 32 panels designed to harvest the sun's rays and use them to heat water.

Here is what Carter predicted at the dedication ceremony: "In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy…. 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 just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."

<snip>

By 1986, the Reagan administration had gutted the research and development budgets for renewable energy at the then-fledgling U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and eliminated tax breaks for the deployment of wind turbines and solar technologies—recommitting the nation to reliance on cheap but polluting fossil fuels, often from foreign suppliers. "The Department of Energy has a multibillion-dollar budget, in excess of $10 billion," Reagan said during an election debate with Carter, justifying his opposition to the latter's energy policies. "It hasn't produced a quart of oil or a lump of coal or anything else in the line of energy."

And in 1986 the Reagan administration quietly dismantled the White House solar panel installation while resurfacing the roof. "Hey! That system is working. Why don't you keep it?" recalls mechanical engineer Fred Morse, now of Abengoa Solar, who helped install the original solar panels as director of the solar energy program during the Carter years and then watched as they were dismantled during his tenure in the same job under Reagan. "Hey! This whole R&D program is working, why don't you keep it?"

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[tridim]

1. Need a link because I want to know why they didn't keep it.

[jpak]

3. oops

it's there now

[jtuck004]

2. Maybe here?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carter-white-house-solar-panel-array

Thanks for posting that - interesting - "It's working - why don't we keep it?".

[SpiralHawk]

4. Republicons buried them

So their oil cronies could continue their, um, ways...

[MajorChode]

5. They went to purgatory as Raygun doomed us to oil servitude to our supply masters

[jpak]

6. Reagan, Poppy, Shrub & the GOP killed the US renewable energy industry and shipped it overseas

The US pioneered utilitiy scale wind turbines - Denmark now dominates that industry.

The US pioneered photovoltaics - China, Japan, Germany now dominate that industry.

The US pioneered concentrating solar power - Spain now dominates that industry.

This is where your green jobs went.

GOP = job killers

yup

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. + a zillion!

[bvar22]

8. They weren't "Solar Panels", but rather Solar Water Heaters.

One of the things for which I couldn't forgive Bill Clinton was NOT reinstalling the Solar Panels (Water Heaters) to the White House on DAY FUCKING ONE!
Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[jpak]

9. They are solar hot water panels. I examined one at a Unity College exhibit at the Common Ground Fair

a few years ago.

They were plumbed in series on the WH and at Unity College.

[HopeHoops]

10. Reagan had them taken down (one of his first actions).

[Canuckistanian]

11. Good story

I didn't know that anyone objected at the time. Thanks, mechanical engineer Fred Morse.

I think Obama should reinstall some solar heating panels, just to reaffirm that we ARE in a new era - and that the naysayers from 30 years ago were just WRONG.

[howaboutme]

12. Jimmy Carter had the right idea

The politics of Jimmy Carter's strategic plan to eliminate our dependence on Middle East oil goes much deeper than merely hurting the profits of big oil. In the end this would have reduced our interest and involvement in the ME. There are interests then and now who do not want the USA to divorce itself from the Middle East (oil or otherwise).

I would suggest you Google - Jimmy Carter October Surprise

These were the interests behind Iran Contra, the Iranian hostage taking, the failure of the rescue, and the backdoor deal making that led to Reagan's election. Above all they did not want Jimmy Carter to have a second term Carter knows he and America were played, and it involves more than big oil.

[Name removed]

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