The White House currently has solar panels on its roof.
Fact Check
Former U.S President Jimmy Carter was considered to be ahead of his time on issues surrounding climate change, exemplified by his installation of solar panels on the rooftop of the White House within the Nineteen Seventies. Years later, Reagan removed the panels when he got here into power, and so they returned a long time after, throughout the Obama administration. Some sources have reported that the solar panels installed by Obama are still in place. We’re within the technique of verifying that.
A photograph of Carter showing off the panels he had installed at a dedication ceremony in 1979 was popular on Reddit in September 2022:
The above caption does accurately state that Carter displayed the solar panels to guests on the White House, nevertheless it’s incorrect as to when Carter’s successor, President Ronald Reagan, had the panels removed. Carter had 32 panels installed there, and for seven years they were used to heat water within the household until the Reagan administration removed them in 1986 — not two years later because the post claims. In keeping with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which now has considered one of the unique panels in its collection, they were a logo of Carter’s faith in “the ability of the sun.”
The above photograph is taken from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library collection, and was published in The Latest York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Structure. The identical image will be seen on Britannica. The Latest York Times’ caption stated: “In 1979, President Carter showed off recent solar panels on the West Wing that might provide hot water for the White House.”
Various shots from that event can be found within the National Archives catalog, and shots of that exact moment will be seen in the underside half of the photographic film scans. These photographs were taken on the White House dedication event for the solar panels.
On the ceremony, which was held in June 1979, Carter said:
Within the yr 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying low cost, 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 may well be only a small a part of considered one of the best and most enjoyable adventures ever undertaken by the American people.
Other photographs from the identical event show the panels more clearly displayed on the rooftop of the White House’s Cabinet Room, which is where the dedication event appears to happen.
What happened to those panels after they were removed? In keeping with Scientific American, one ended up on the National Museum of American History, one is within the Carter Library, and one is on the Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou, China.
Solar panels made a comeback on the White House during former President George W. Bush’s tenure in 2002, but not on the Executive Mansion’s roof. In keeping with the White House Historical Association, the National Park Service oversaw installation of three solar energy systems on the White House grounds starting in 2002. The installation during his tenure helped heat up the White House swimming pool.
In 2010, then-U.S. President Barack Obama announced that solar panels would once more be installed on the White House rooftop. The installation was accomplished in 2014. The video below highlights the method:
We reached out to the White House Historical Association to learn if any updates or changes were made to the panels throughout the Trump administration. They shared with us a photograph from a July 2021 news article wherein the panels are still visible, stating, “It appears from photographers that the panels are still installed on the roof.” While they confirmed that the panels are still there, they may not confirm with certainty if the Trump administration had made any changes to them before 2020.
Sources:
Bergman, Megan Mayhew. “‘Many years Ahead of His Time’: History Catches up with Visionary Jimmy Carter.” The Guardian, 4 May 2021. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/03/jimmy-carter-climate-change-carterland-film-biography. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“Biden Sees Virus ‘Independence,’ But COVID Takes No Holiday.” WTTW News, https://news.wttw.com/2021/07/04/biden-sees-virus-independence-covid-takes-no-holiday. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
Blinder, Alan. “Jimmy Carter Makes a Stand for Solar, Many years After the Cardigan Sweater.” The Latest York Times, 11 Feb. 2017. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/us/jimmy-carter-solar-energy-plains-ga.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“Jimmy Carter Leases His Land to Solar Power Much of Plains.” The Atlanta Journal-Structure, 8 Feb. 2017. https://www.ajc.com/news/jimmy-carter-leases-his-land-solar-power-much-plains/XwFS50Kf1wEI9fXxpvSUnM/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“North America – Hydroelectricity.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/North-America/Hydroelectricity. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“President Jimmy Carter’s Remarks at White House Solar Panel Dedication Ceremony, 1979.” Energy History, Yale. https://energyhistory.yale.edu/library-item/president-jimmy-carters-remarks-white-house-solar-panel-dedication-ceremony-1979#:~:text=President%20Jimmy%20Carter%20spoke%20on,20%25%20renewable%20energy%20by%202000. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“Solar Energy on the White House.” WHHA (En-US), https://www.whitehousehistory.org/solar-energy-at-the-white-house. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“Solar Panels Here to Stay atop White House Roof.” Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/05/09/solar-panels-here-to-stay-atop-white-house-roof/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The Roof of the White House.” Whitehouse.Gov, 9 May 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/05/09/roof-white-house. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The Strange, Tumultuous Lifetime of Solar Power on the White House.” University of California, 18 Apr. 2017, https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/strange-tumultuous-life-solar-power-white-house. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
“White House Solar Panel.” National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1356218. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
