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.
Last week, workers at Google took the time to track down what happened to them. 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. Since then, both electricity-generating and water-heating panels were installed on nearby maintenance buildings in late 2002, albeit by the National Park Service, not at George Bush's request.
Lots of people seem to expect Obama to make green home improvements a presidential matter once more. Doing that would certainly fit with his recent pronouncements on the need for the US to become energy independent. But what should he install first?
Tom Simonite, online technology editor