"The panels, removed under Ronald Reagan, found new homes from Maine to China. And their legacy still reverberates."
"It was a novel idea at the time, but one that made sense: In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the roof of the White House.
They were removed just seven years later, under President Ronald Reagan. But that wasn’t the end of their story. They were picked up at a bargain price by a small college in Maine, where they continued to generate power for years, and eventually ended up scattered around the United States and China.
When the panels were first set up on the roof of the West Wing, energy independence was a big issue in America. An oil embargo imposed by Arab countries in 1973, in part to pressure the United States over its support for Israel in a brief war that year, had sent shock waves though the American economy."
Austyn Gaffney reports for the New York Times January 2, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"How Jimmy Carter’s White House Solar Panels Ended Up In Maine" (Portland Press Herald)
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/01/05/how-jimmy-carters-white-house-sol...