Friedman: What if Reagan had kept Carter's rooftop solar panels?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Thomas L. Friedman / The New York Times

In reflecting on Jimmy Carter’s death, my mind skipped to the Apple TV+ streaming series “For All Mankind,” an alternate-reality drama that imagines how the world might have been if it was the Soviets, not the Americans, who walked on the moon first during the Cold War space race.

The alternate reality I’d like to write is in honor of Carter: How would the world have been different had President Ronald Reagan not removed the solar panels that Carter had installed on the White House roof during his presidency with the aim of kick-starting the solar industry and inspiring Americans to adopt clean energy in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and gas lines?

Carter and his family personally used those very basic solar panels. Roughly 3 yards long and 1 yard wide, they absorbed the sun’s rays and powered a water heater for their living quarters and the White House cafeteria.

Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy. The man had a much richer imagination when it came to energy than he gets credit for. He was about a lot more than lowering the thermostat and hinting that Americans should put on a sweater.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/friedman-what-if-reagan-had-kept-carters-rooftop-solar-panels/

[Ocelot II]

1. For once Friedman wrote something that isn't stupid.

[RockRaven]

3. It is still stupid to the extent that the premise is "what if Reagan wasn't Reagan?"

[Ocelot II]

4. True. I think he was trying to say something like

"What if Reagan wasn't anti-environment and a generally mean, useless dick," but unfortunately Reagan was Reagan, and he was exactly that.

[Henry203]

2. Reagan and Trump are the same.

Looking into the past and thinking in the past.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. He wouldn't have been Reagan

He would have been Ronald Someone Else.

[Igel]

6. My brother's house back then had them.

He was in Glendale, AZ.

With a family of 4 and me visiting, they had to time water usage carefully. Worked well. AZ. I heard they had some use if cloudy, but don't know if they could handle providing all the hot water in DC, esp. to food service. (Then again, I doubt that the WH food service is subject to or requires many local inspectors roaming the place.)