CARTER'S SOLAR PANELS: Half of the 32 solar panels that once heated water for the Carter White House still grace the roof of the Unity College cafeteria in Maine.
Image: Courtesy of Mark Tardif
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The White House itself once harvested the power of the sun. On June 20, 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."
For some of the solar panels it is the former that has come to pass: one resides at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, one at the Carter Library and, as of this week, one will join the collection of the Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou, China. Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar Energy Group Co., the largest manufacturer of such solar hot water heaters in the world, accepted the donation for permanent display there on August 5. After all, companies like his in China now produce some 80 percent of the solar water heaters used in the world today.
But they are based on the same technology developed here in the U.S. and once manufactured in Warrentown, Va., by InterTechnology/Solar Corp., the company behind the Carter panels.* Roughly three meters long, one meter wide and just 10 centimeters deep, the blue-black panels absorb sunlight to heat water piped through their innards. The Carter administration set a goal of deriving 20 percent of U.S. energy needs from such renewable sources by the turn of the century. Today, the U.S. gets a mere 7 percent of its energy from renewables, the bulk of that from the massive hydroelectric dams constructed in the middle of the 20th century. Solar thermal and photovoltaic technology combined provide less than 0.1 percent.
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 [renewable] R&D program is working, why don't you keep it?"
After they came down it took a soft-spoken administrator from a small environmental college in Maine to rescue the Carter panels from being a forgotten curiosity stored in the dark corner of a vast government warehouse.
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37 Comments
Add CommentInteresting history. 1979 was almost in time to keep the peak carbon dioxide within our lifespans if the application had been universal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article, though it makes me sad to think how little we've progressed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe son of an engineer and perpetual tinkerer, some of my fondest memories as a child were the many hours I spent with my father in 1978-79 building solar panels for our house. We soldered copper pipes and attached them to corrugated aluminum sheets, then painted them black and affixed them to the roof. The system circulated some kind of antifreeze-like solution and supplemented our electric hot water heater. That system ran for many years before it had to be taken down so the roof could be replaced.
The neighbors thought we were freaks, but I never would have imagined as a 10 year-old that our work would still be considered "unusual" some 32 years later.
In 2010 I shouldn't still have the urge to yell "Hey kids! Look, a solar panel!" when I happen to see one on a roof...though I am happy that the response from my daughters is "Cool! When are we getting one?"
I live and work in China just south of Macao. Solar panels are everywhere and I can see wind turbines on hilltops from where I live even though it is on a peninsula. The building standards could use some improvement here but water is used much less the way they do it. The houses are usually thick walled brick so they provide serious thermal lag which leads to air conditioners being far less common despite the fact that they are cheap and efficient here. Public Transportation is quite reliable and reasonable so most people here ride motorcycles or bikes for local travel even if they could afford a car.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe list goes on but I think that is enough for my point. The Chinese seem well on their way to being far more efficient energy users than the States have ever been. Despite the fact that they maintain a fairly reasonable standard of living, albeit without many modern conveniences as common or affordable, they match the States only in pollution. I do find it fairly easy to forgive them for that considering that the population is five times the states population and most, despite some convenient urban myths, live a decent life with at least basic modern conveniences. Phones, computers, flat screen tvs', washing machines, and so on are readily available and used by the vast majority.
I will agree that they have many problems and issues associated with development... but that they lag behind anyone in working on the problem of energy and infrastructure management is not one of them.
I'm not sure if it is hubris, politics, cultural ignorance/apathy, greed or combination of any/all of the above, but it is quite sad that the states and many other 'developed' countries seem incapable of addressing these problems effectively.
Regardless of wether or not it 'helps' the environment or not this path has proven to be effective, efficient, and beneficial as a whole for people, the infrastructure, and the culture here. Seen in action it is just a sensible way to do it. What holds back many is anyones guess I suppose. I don't talk about it much here, though, because it wouldn't take much honest conversation to be embarassed about where I come from.
Wow... I must be getting old. I just read this over and I'm sounding like Andy Rooney on 60 minutes.... lol
"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 technologiesrecommitting the nation to reliance on cheap but polluting fossil fuels, often from foreign suppliers."
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It was saint ronnie that put America' s renewable energy program started by President Carter, into the dumpster, so that we could continue our dependence on foreign OIL, which has led to record profits of the fossil fuel industry -- the same industry that continues their huge disinformation campaign against global warming today.
Reagan, like all people/politicians, have had their 'moments'. Trying to blame them for something so broad and deep, however, is giving them too much credit/blame. The truth is that until 'average people' get off their arses nothing will happen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe politician/biz crowd will never do anything that endangers their position/power until they have to. To think they will is simply naive. Unless constituents/consumers create the demand they will never invest/promote anything they don't have to.
The fault does not lie with them. They are simply being what they are. It lies with people who allow them to continue as they are because they are satisfied with what they have. In other words 'we have seen the enemy and he is us'.
There is an old adage. "People get the government they deserve." I think it is being proven these days.
Ronald Reagan ordered the Carter solar panels OFF the White House; now the Chinese have them in a museum. Maybe they'll get some inspiration and exceed US efforts to green building design for homes and public buildings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"What happened?" Big oil.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Already, certain buildings on the grounds of the federal landmark employ solar power, courtesy of the National Park Service and President George W. Bush."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCarter and Reagan in detail but Bush in passing. Bush cannot be symbolic?
Great article - a large percentage of the American public have no idea about this history. The main reason that Reagan & Bush chopped the renewable energy budget was that it aided their Saudi allies as well as oil traders and others looking to speculate off the oil price - the nexus of the small group of people who had made a lot of money off the oil crisis and didn't want to see oil prices fall as renewable energy took off.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdan1369 says, "Reagan, like all people/politicians, have had their 'moments'. Trying to blame them for something so broad and deep, however, is giving them too much credit/blame.....The fault does not lie with them."
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Sorry to burst your bubble, but saint ronnie was truly to blame for gutting R&D budgets for renewable energy as well as eliminating tax breaks for renewable energy, since I was working in the solar field at the time, and saw it first hand.
It was the well-entrenched and subsidized fossil fuel industry that directed our energy policy and still does. It has also been the fossil fuel industry that has slowed nuclear technology as well, causing a full half of our electricity generating facilities to be fueled by dirty coal instead.
I can not help to think how far along we could be today if our politicians had not been bought by the fossil fuel industry, and we had followed through with Carter's dream. "The motivation was energy independence," a motive that remains recognizable in political rhetoric today because, as Carter himself put it, the sun cannot be embargoed.
Unfortunately, that same technology developed here in the U.S. and once manufactured in Warrentown, Va., by InterTechnology/Solar Corp., along with much other renewable energy technology and jobs, has been offshored over the past 30 years, due to lack of insight by politicians starting with saint ronnie, stuck in the past with the dirty fossil fuel industry.
Each day the sun delivers enough energy to support all life on our planet, and this free, abundant and clean source of power has the grace to rival every energy source we know.
Why isn't this features on NetworkNews?.....at the very least, PBS?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe're DOOMED!
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excellent article and excellent comments...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswouldn't it be nice if we could say today that the US is producing 20 percent of its energy from the sun...with more plants coming online to increase that...instead...it seems we have to buy anything solar related from other countries...
i think it would be a good thing for Obama to put panels back on the whitehouse ...accept Sungevitys offer...
Most of the comments here are positive and thoughtful in their own way. It is unfortunate that so many, like children, need to look for a boogey man instead of in the mirror.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt isn't a bubble and you missed the point. R&D and the gov aren't putting up the alternative energy projects around the world. People are. Politicians and biz do what they do because they percieve it as either something to increase their constituency or consumer base. Whatever you are doing with your votes is not being matched with your wallets and actions. That is what they pay attention to.
You can tell me all day that a bus can't hurt you if you step in front of it. When you steadfastly refuse to be moved in front of the bus I know what you really believe. So do the politicians and biz guys. Other factors do play and you can blame 'whoever' you want for a given thing on a given day. Ultimately, however, you get what you asked for. If this isn't true then both democracy and the free market are a joke. Personally, I believe in both and find it amusing that people play the blame game rather than take personal responsibility. Something that historically most have agreed is required for these things (freedom and the free market) to work.
Ah calm down all you moonbats... This so called free energy from these "solar panels" is all in your minds. If you added up the cost of energy to produce, distribute, erect, and maintain these panels over the years, as well as dispose of them when new and better technology arrives, you'd realize what a WASTE of energy they really are/were.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut hey you can find comfort in knowing that at least half the story fit's your meme!
Ah calm down all you moonbats... This so called free energy from these "solar panels" is all in your minds. If you added up the cost of energy to produce, distribute, erect, and maintain these panels over the years, as well as dispose of them when new and better technology arrives, you'd realize what a WASTE of energy they really are/were.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut hey you can find comfort in knowing that at least half the story fit's your meme!
"BobM54" - The free energy that solar panels produce is cost productive for every home in America, and if you think that is just my mind telling me a huge lie, then I would rather stay with that huge lie than sink to the huge lie the dirty dishwater in your head is telling you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow can anyone think that "free" is not cost productive. I think that a solar panel sitting on top of my car, charging my battery while the car sits in a parking lot is much more cost productive than me having to stop at the gas station and pumping $60.00 into my tank every other day or once a week.
Has the fossil fuel greed of Reagan and Bush managed to eliminate all conscious thought from their fellow Republicans? You probably cannot find one republican who believes that solar, geothermal, hydro, and wind (which after built, produce free electricity) can supply a cost effective source of energy for America.
Nuclear, coal, oil, and natural gas power plants costs a fortune to build and continue to cost a fortune to produce very expensive polluting power. Why would anyone with intelligence above a "moonbats" (sic) want to stay with this form of very expensive and very dirty source of energy?
I think President Obama should stick with Carter's eagerness to go to natural sources of energy than to even consider looking in the direction of Reagan or Bush's policy of dirty, dangerous fossil energy.
Well guess what, folks. It is now possible for less than the price of a used car to have a solar electric system or a solar hot water system that can last a lifetime. I have been living on solar power for over two decades with no lack of amenities, no power outages, and no monthly bill. The problem lies not in the politicians, they are simply an unflattering reflection of us. If you want to be a responsible citizen you will cut back on all other optional expenditures and install solar energy NOW. If you need assistance with this, please go to http://www.lightontheearth.org/ where I have posted all the information that you need in order to create or oversee the installation of solar energy systems. The planetary eco-system will be destroyed beyond recognition and the human race will experience the collapse of health, infrastructure and climate if we don't, as individuals, take the initiative now. We have to vote with our pocketbooks. If we don't, we will asphyxiate on our own stupidity!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with those who say that it is the general public who must lead this effort instead of politicians. However, it is good that a little leadership is now being shown instead of the mantra of previous administrations "shhh, don't worry, you don't need to change a thing. It's all a bunch of lies that we need to conserve and invest in renewable energy. Oil will last for many thousands of years and doesn't hurt anything."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJon, checked out your web site. It was helpful, but you didn't talk about the most important category that I and a great majority of Americans fall into: retired, fixed income, or unstable pay because of an out-of-control health care system that is bleeding us dry. We cannot afford to install solar panels on our houses since we are still deep in the failed Bush economy and every penny we can rake and scratch to get our hands on goes to the utility companies. I spent a fortune to weatherize my home and stock it with energy conserving appliances and I got my power and gas bill down to the affordable level and what does the utility companies do, they cry to Public Service Commission and get, over the last three years, a 183.7 % rate hike...I am back to level one with my power and gas bill.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you know of any government agencies that will pay to install solar panels for seniors who are on a fixed income or for people who are on a low wage income with a family?
The article says the panels are coming down at Unity College, but I didn't see why. Are they no longer functional? Is a more efficient system in the works? I'd like to know why this symbolic set-up is being dismantled once again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn answer to Barb: You are right. With a few hundred dollars you can purchase a modern solar hot water system (using evacuated tubes) which works better than the 1970 White House system. The value of the solar water heater panels at Unity College as artifect of American history far exceeds its value as a water heater. Actually Unity College made a deal with Mr. Huang Ming using the White House panel as a trade-in to obtain a number of modern solar water heaters for their future student dormitory!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConversion to electric cars and such will not bring the required changes in order to scale down Human foot print if we end up seeing gas powered vehicles replaced by their equal number of electric cars.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis could cause rapid price rises for domestic utilities services. Can poor households afford paying three times more for household electricity because of energy market rules?
Dual distribution and pricing will have to be introduced.
Individual transportation requirements cannot be sustained as a social measure by a majority of people who can't afford individual transportation by electric car themselves.
The picture of an electric car traffic jam would be the epitome of failure to change life styles.
The people spend 100% of our time being gutted by the credit card companys , butchered by gas and food prices and holding two jobs to pay for the auto company bailout, the the bank bailout, the Wall Street bailout and the Congress bailout.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks! That's what I was wondering - seems like a good point to make that they are coming down because solar has gotten better and is even cheaper to do more efficiently than these particular panels, and not because solar overall wasn't worth it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you want to find out more about the story of the Jimmy Carter solar installation and what happened 1979, tray to see the documentary �A ROAD NOT TAKEN� (www.roadnottaken.info). DVD/book will be available later this year.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSwiss Television chose it as �Cine Film of the Week�: http://tinyurl.com/34cmgha.
And here an article from somebody who saw the movie in the theater: http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/6640
Consider the simple fact that of the worlds largest multinationals oil companies lead.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe money speaks, Iran gets Stinger Missles, Contras get funding and the people of the world get to suck on the carbon dioxide exhaust.
Deep Throat had it right: "Follow the money!"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPresident Carter has quietly done so much to improve the plight of people throughout the world. Thanks!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this<i>I can not help to think how far along we could be today if our politicians had not been bought by the fossil fuel industry, and we had followed through with Carter's dream. "The motivation was energy independence," a motive that remains recognizable in political rhetoric today because, as Carter himself put it, the sun cannot be embargoed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnfortunately, that same technology developed here in the U.S. and once manufactured in Warrentown, Va., by InterTechnology/Solar Corp., along with much other renewable energy technology and jobs, has been offshored over the past 30 years, due to lack of insight by politicians starting with saint ronnie, stuck in the past with the dirty fossil fuel industry.</i>
a whole 'nuther topic, but offshoring of manufacturing is due to global cost comparisons of the cost of fabrication here vs there, in part caused by value of the dollar, in part caused by competition of labor costs, part by govt imposition of taxes and regulations (environmental, labor,) imposing additional cost to manufacturers- good intentions bring both good and bad results, depending on where you stand....
<i>It was the well-entrenched and subsidized fossil fuel industry that directed our energy policy and still does. It has also been the fossil fuel industry that has slowed nuclear technology as well, causing a full half of our electricity generating facilities to be fueled by dirty coal instead. </i> well, maybe in part, but again, environmentalists (and 3mi island mishap) also have delayed Nuclear , as in "put the kibosh" on it 20 years ago...
also, please consider how difficult it is on a pragmatic basis to replace systems before they have been depreciated (or wear out). as an individual i did not install a solar water heater at my house until the old water heater was dead, and i could find a suitable system with a 6-8 year payback (which would at least offset the 8year lifespan of most water tanks in current technology)
we as a people are inherently pragmatic, and heedless environmentalism at any cost is just silly, and self defeating to the cause...
in comparison to my methodical cost/benefit exercise (my own money, don't you know) is our government stimulus at work:
http://imaginesolar.com/2010/03/funding-awarded-for-32-large...
Part of the stimulus money went to the Uof TX SW Medical in Dallas for a PV solar installation for $2.4M.The system configuration will generate approximately 328,999 kWh per year of clean, renewable electricity.
$2,400,000.00/($0.12per32899kwh)=60.79yr-on a 30yr system live span.
<i>Regardless of whether or not it 'helps' the environment or not this path has proven to be effective, efficient, and beneficial as a whole for people, the infrastructure, and the culture here. Seen in action it is just a sensible way to do it. What holds back many is anyones guess I suppose. I don't talk about it much here, though, because it wouldn't take much honest conversation to be embarassed about where I come from.</i>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit is far easier to install current technology where there was none....much more difficult to install replacement technology when the infrastructure is in place and paid for , and still working perfectly fine.
you would have every homeowner throw out his water heater, tear out his telephone/electric lines, and dig up his natural gas line....on his own nickel? ....now times that by a few million...
much easier to install a few cell towers with solar collectors and hire a goat-herder to guard the equipment, than lay new lines across the savannas of Africa or china...try getting a new cell tower (or gasp, a 30'windmill) past your neighbors at the local planning commission...i double dare you.
Has the fossil fuel greed of Reagan and Bush managed to eliminate all conscious thought from their fellow Republicans? You probably cannot find one republican who believes that solar, geothermal, hydro, and wind (which after built, produce free electricity) can supply a cost effective source of energy for America.
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bull. shall i trade that stereotype with "there is no cost too high for EnviroNuts to pay, so long as it comes out of MY pocket"?
i am one who believes in the possibility....but let's do it on a rational basis, shall we?....each system traditional or "alternative" must demonstrate its cost effectiveness, efficiency, and benefit (cleaner air, water, etc)....there is no one size fits all solutions....for the reduction in greenhouse gases, there is also increased toxic byproducts from the mfr of PV cells....lithium, nicad and lead batteries which support solar and wind, are toxic waste, at some point in their life...for every windfarm there is the possibility of dead birds. there is no "magic bullet". (ain't nuthin' free)
back to an earlier link of Stimulus funds, U TX SW Medical used $2.4M to fund a PV project (60yr payback on 30yr lifespan of solar cell at 12cents per kwh). it is totally irresponsible to install a PV system with Govt subsidies when the financial payback of a system is calculated to be twice the estimated working life! think of the number of solar water heaters that could have been installed on homes of the elderly or impoverished, instead, or how much energy could have been conserved by caulk and insulation of those same homes?
if i lived in a volcanic area, i would consider geothermal electric generation a slam dunk, if i lived on an island, i would be looking at wave/hydro and wind solutions as well.
and, to Bush's "fossil greed"...he gets credit from me as Texas Governor for reducing the time it takes energy projects from drawing board to installation....it gave Texas a serious jumpstart on wind generation, and NG peaker plants, allowing some dinosaurs to get mothballed early...
finally, the largest unnamed cost to the EnviroNut Movement is that by forcing up traditional energy costs for the cause, they are pricing lower income folk out off the bottom rungs, just to keep up with the electric bill...that's nasty.
I am all for renewable energies, but everything should stand the test of marketability.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf Americans are willing to spend $5k, US can increase its solar energy usage from 0.1% to 17% in a year. DOE said 17% of US energy use is for heating water. If every US household spends $5k to install 1kW solar panels on their roof for heating water, that's 17% of energy usage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMr. Biello, your article keeps repeating terrawatts of energy. A terrawatt is a unit of power not energy.
"Conversion to electric cars and such will not bring the required changes in order to scale down Human foot print" ... "This could cause rapid price rises for domestic utilities services."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOver the long run Solar PV is already less expensive than electricity where I live. Solar PV can ALSO power your electric car, or convert H2O into H2 to power your fuel cell or Hydrocombustion car. The more folks that install SolarPV the less expensive it will be.
The energy cost for SolarPV is paid for within 18 months. The energy cost for SolarThermal is even faster. These systems last a very long time. SolarPV Systems installed over 20 years ago are still productive, and are expected to last 20-30 more years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJamesDavis, the place to go to look up local and federal incentives for energy installations, for years, has been the DSIRE database:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.dsireusa.org/
There are many income-based incentives.
Another commenter claimed the return on investment for (residential?) PV was 18 months. The energy return on investment is that for the most efficiently made panels, string ribbon like Schott and Evergreen Solar. The monetary payback is quite longer, however, usually between 120 and 240 months.
If we could, our money would be best spent on large-scale solar installations, on the roofs of our larger buildings and parking lots, instead of paying highly trained solar installers to go around to each of our houses and all the overhead involved. Then we could buy this energy from the utility.
Hot water, on the other hand, is best made where it will be used, and domestic solar hot water always has a decent payback.
In the case of our commenter BobM54, It is really hard to take anyone seriously who conjugates fit in the third person, singular, as "fit's." Unless they're subtly satirizing the viewpoint they're stating. Like a child complaining about something its mother forced on it for its own good, certain commenters here pretend a well-established good is just a caprice of the person who knows better, as evidenced by the application of the word "meme" instead of "good idea."
I worked for the largest solar manufacturer in the southwest, from 1977-1982, in Tempe, AZ. I quit when the end became inevitable. They were out of business by 1986. I blame the utter arogance and stpidity of the Americans who elected Ronald Reagan, including the management of said company. They all admitted to voting for him too, believing he would get gubmint off their back. Even then we were advocating eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels so we could compete against them.
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