U.S. presidents through the years have all had very different ideas about the energy industry.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter spearheaded what would become a renewable revolution, and placed 32 solar panels on the White House roof amid a national energy crisis caused by the Arab oil embargo.
He was the first president to do so, and the first to take renewable energy seriously as a form of reliable and efficient energy consumption.
In the words of President Carter, "In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy… A generation from now, this solar heater… can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."
However, in 1981, President Reagan, who had very different ideas of how energy should be collected, ordered those solar panels removed. In fact, that was one of the first things he did upon taking office. Apparently, he considered them "a joke."
Half of the original 32 panels were moved to Unity College in Maine in 1992 to be used to heat water.
And in 2010, President Obama, who was a well-known advocate of renewable energy, ordered solar panels reinstalled at the White House.
Now, as longtime Oil & Energy Investor readers will know, I'm fully on board with expanding the United State's hold on renewable energy.
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