In 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House. He was the first of three presidents.
As solar panels continue to grow in popularity among American homeowners, a viral Reddit post claims that the Sun was once one of the most famous houses in the world.
Earlier in October, a Reddit user claimed that former President Jimmy Carter had installed solar panels on the roof of the White House during his administration, but former President Ronald Reagan later removed them.
Google also shows search data People wonder if Carter put solar panels on the White House.
Question
Did President Jimmy Carter install solar panels on the White House that were later removed by President Ronald Reagan?
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answer
Yes, President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House, which were later removed by President Ronald Reagan.
what we found
President Jimmy Carter identified the environment as a priority issue during his 1976 presidential campaign and later worked to reform national energy policy while in office.
In 1977, amid natural gas shortages and unrest in the Middle East, Carter signed legislation creating the US Department of Energy. The state agency officially began operating on October 1 of the same year.
But Carter's commitments to energy policy did not end there. In the summer of 1979, he installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the West Wing of the White House, according to the National Museum of History and the White House Historical Society. The panels heated water in the White House until Carter's successor, President Ronald Reagan, removed them in 1986 during renovations to the White House roof.
The solar panels sat in a government warehouse for about five years after Reagan recalled them.
In 1991, the White House's unused solar panels were moved from storage to Unity College in New Gloucester, Maine. The school repaired 16 of the 32 panels and installed them upstairs in the school cafeteria where they were used to power a water heater.
Unity College says the panels were removed from the dining room ceiling in 2010 "when they reached their useful life". The university has donated at least one solar panel to the National Museum of American History.
Although Carter was the first American president to install solar panels on the White House, two others followed suit.
In 2002, during the administration of President George W. Bush, the National Park Service oversaw the installation of solar panels to power the White House Central Maintenance Facility. Solar power also heated the president's outdoor hot tub and pool, according to the White House Historical Society.
President Barack Obama announced in 2010 that he would install solar panels and a solar water heater in the White House, a plan that came to fruition almost three years later, in August 2013.
VERIFIY reached out to the White House to comment on whether the building has solar panels installed, but did not receive a response as of press time.
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