On a sunny june day in 1979, President Jimmy Carter held the first and only press conference on the White House roof. Atop the West Wing, he unveiled a $28,000 solar cell system that captured the sun's energy to provide hot water for the White House. He also launched a sweeping drive aimed at harnessing the sun, the wind, and other renewable resources to generate 20% of America's electricity by 2000.
It didn't happen, of course. The share of electricity produced by solar cell technology in the U.S. last year was a mere 0.07%. Carter's solar water-heating system was removed in 1986 so a leak in the roof could be fixed. The solar panels were supposed to be reinstalled but they never were. Please login or register to see the full article
