Solar Panels Added to White House Roof

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels to the roof of the White House. These panels were mainly used to heat water and were removed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan during roof repairs. In 2002, George W. Bush added solar panels to a maintenance shed on the grounds to help heat the pool.

For the last few years, President Barack Obama has been promising to install photovoltaic solar panels on the White House roof. Although the system was initially planned to produce approximately 19,700 killowatt hours of electricity per year, the final system was scaled back to a mere 6.3kW system. The new system, however, is finally complete and providing power to the high profile residence.