Unity Environmental University President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, left, and Chief Sustainability Officer Jennifer deHart, stand in 2018 next to one of the college’s Jimmy Carter solar panels that the former president placed on the White House during his time in office. Two of the panels are featured in the largest exhibition ever about the sun at the Science Museum in London. Courtesy of Unity Environmental University.
The need for alternative sources of energy and a desire for energy independence prompted President Jimmy Carter to install the first solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979.
The panels were later removed by the Reagan administration in 1986 and placed in storage. They might still be there except for a former Unity College administrator in Maine who stumbled upon an article about the panels a few years later and decided he wanted to bring them to the small environmentally-focused college for reuse.
In 1991, the array of 32 solar panels formerly atop the White House was removed from government storage and brought to Unity. Sixteen of the panels were refurbished and placed atop the cafeteria roof, where they were used to heat water for more than a decade.
Although they’re no longer operational, the fate of Jimmy Carter’s solar panels is getting renewed attention following his death on Dec. 29. The college, now known as Unity Environmental University, is still in possession of 28 of the panels while four others have found new homes, including in places as far away as China.
The university is planning to display some of the panels at its main campus in New Gloucester and its Sky Lodge campus in Moose River.
“They’re a piece of history,” said Unity Environmental University President Melik Peter Khoury. “Today solar panels are normal, but at a time when renewable energy wasn’t really a mainstream idea, they were historic. It’s about the efficacy of living in a sustainable world … and keeping up with that legacy is very important to us.”
The Carter solar panels on the Unity campus. Courtesy of Unity Environmental University
In response to the economic crisis created by an Arab oil embargo and the nation’s growing dependence on foreign oil, Carter called for a comprehensive campaign to conserve energy during his presidency. He decided to promote the use of solar energy by installing solar heating panels on the roof of the West Wing in 1979, according to the White House Historical Association.
The panels were used to heat water for seven years before they were removed and placed in storage by the Reagan administration.
Peter Marbach was a development officer at Unity College when he came across a magazine article about the panels.
Unity College was experiencing some financial challenges at the time, and Marbach looked at the solar panels as an opportunity for the college to get its message about environmental stewardship and education out to the country and potential donors.
The college was f