Above, trailer for “A Road not Taken”, the story of the first White House solar panels, removed by the Reagan administration at the direction of fossil fuel interests.
Below, the installation of new panels on the White House, 30 years later.
30 Years Later: Solar Panels Return to the White House
Carter understood the science and what the energy future was going to look like. Reagan was clueless.
Compared to Carter, true. Compared to today’s GOP, Reagan looks pretty good. Here’s his statement when he signed the Montreal Protocol.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=35639
Wasn’t Reagan the guy who wanted to declare ketchup as a vegetable for school kids?
It’s doubtful that he knew anything about it before it hit the newspapers. The regulations came out of the USDA, not the White House.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup_as_a_vegetable says that pickle relish was specifically mentioned as a possible alternate vegetable (and if pickles count, why not relish?) but ketchup was not.
“….removed by the Reagan administration at the DIRECTION of fossil fuel interests”.
Has anyone ever proved that?. Reagan may have been chummy with the FF guys and took their $$$, but it may be a bit of an overreach to say “direction”.
Lovins sums up Reagan’s part in steering us in the wrong direction. Reagan was a big-government protectionist that put large tariffs on more reliable, more fuel efficient Japanese cars in order to keep the free market from eating Detroit. The Japanese were using statistical quality assurance to make their cars better than American ones.
http://youtu.be/6sOtrGkNLIw
The Japanese followed the methods of W. Edwards Deming. Talk about a prophet being without honor in his own country….
Good to hear. Now lets hope they stay there after Obama ‘s term in office ends.
Hillary is not likely to take them down.
Lest anyone forget how utterly backward and destructive Reagan was, hear this:
” President Reagan not only removed the solar panels from the roof, he systematically dismantled Carter’s alternative energy and conservation initiatives. Reagan became the anti-Carter in almost every way on energy policy. Reagan slashed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s budget by 90 percent, halved the Energy Department’s conservation and alternative fuels budget, eliminated the wind investment tax credit, reduced spending on solar photovoltaic research by two-thirds, slashed energy tax credits for homeowners, and reduced fuel-efficiency standards for cars.”
Solar in the White House is a symbolic gesture, then and now. That the Reagan Administration removed the solar erected by Carter is an unsavory legacy of the Reagan Administration.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/tp/History-of-White-House-Solar-Panels.htm
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/01/29/reagans-road-to-climate-perdition/
But, but…..He cut taxes on the rich!
And, and……He began the destruction of unions in the U.S.!
And they have named airports, schools, roads, and buildings after him! And GROVER heads a project working to do more of that in every state! Isn’t he a saint?
Yes. I am sure he deserves sainthood for reduced fuel efficiency standards for cars. That’s another thing old guys like me remember. Gives backward a bad name. It does give the present rep party a milestone to sink beneath.
Reagan did a very few good things. The present Repugnant Party has already sunk beneath the milestones he set. Reagan could not pass the “litmus tests” that all Repugnants are now subjected to by the nut-jobs of the far right. He would not have made it through the 2012 primaries if he were alive and running today.
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