Reagan Takes Solar Panels Down

Dirck halstead getty images.

Reagan takes solar panels down.

They were taken down for. Reagan who didn t think much of solar energy also allowed the tax credit carter had instated to lapse. While jimmy carter was in office the federal energy. Ronald reagan helped tear down the berlin wall and he also helped tear down the white house s solar panels.

Solar panels finally back on the white house almost 30 years after reagan removed them new 50 comments by nathan ingraham may 9 2014 1 50pm edt. President ronald reagan took office in 1981 and the solar panels were removed during his administration. In 1986 when the price of energy was temporarily cheaper and americans minds were less focused on environmental issues president reagan ordered the panels removed from the white house roof. Dixy lee ray the chair of the atomic energy commission and author of the nation s energy future took the subpanel seriously and made sure photovoltaics received but a pittance fulfilling her prophecy that solar would remain in her words like a flea on the behind of an elephant in america s energy mix.

Author natalie goldstein wrote in global warming. In 1991 unity college an environmentally centered college in maine acquired the panels and later installed them on their cafeteria. Reagan s political philosophy viewed the free market as the best arbiter of what was good for the country. In perverse fashion dr.

Reagan was quoted as saying the panels were unsightly and unnecessary. In 1986 ronald reagan removed the solar panels installed by jimmy carter from the white house. They were put in a warehouse in virginia and forgotten. Seven years after the west wing roof party in 1986 the symbolic solar collectors met with roof repairs and they were never re installed.

In 1979 jimmy carter in a forward looking move installed solar panels in the roof of the white house. It was clear reagan had a completely different take on energy consumption. This symbolic installation was taken down in 1986 during the reagan presidency. Multiply by reagan s 32 solar panels and you get 33 6 kwh of clean energy every day for free.

365 days a year 24 year that s 294 336 kwh of dirty energy bought and burned because of one bad decision by ronald reagan.