Will Obama restore solar panels to the White House?

With a new tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, speculation is growing about the kind of home improvements we can expect. The question doing the rounds in the blogosphere is: will Obama install new solar panels on the White House’s roof?

The first presidential solar panels were actually installed in 1979, after two recent oil shocks, by Jimmy Carter to heat water. But when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 they were taken down and put into storage.

They report that the 32 panels ended up at Unity College, a college in Maine specialising in environmental education, where half were used to provide hot water for the canteen for 12 years. When Carter originally dedicated his panels he presciently said:

“In the year 2000, this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy.”

They were working in 2000, just somewhere else, while the White House was without solar panels altogether.

New Scientist