When President Carter installed 32 solar panels on the White House roof in 1979, environmentalists saw it as a sign that the administration and government were embracing renewable energy and shaping a new way forward for the nation. But after the panels were quietly dismantled during the Reagan administration, the effort was sidetracked.

During a dedication ceremony for the panels' installation, Carter said, "A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."

One of the panels is at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. A second is at the Carter Library, and one more will be on display at the Solar Science and Technology Museum in China this week.

The panels, originally built by InterTechnology/Solar Corp. and used to heat water for White House use, were installed as part of a pledge to derive 20 percent of the nation's energy from renewable sources by the year 2000. That number is 7 percent today, and most of the renewable energy comes from dams. Solar power represents less than 0.1 percent.

The panels were dismantled in 1986 as part of a roof resurfacing, much to the dismay of those in the solar industry. The panels were in a government warehouse until 1991, when Unity College Development Director Peter Marbach wrote to Carter with the aim of reviving the panels. Marbach lobbied the General Services Administration for the panels. Now, 16 of the original 32 are installed on the college's cafeteria roof.

Unity spokesman Mark Tardif said the panels will likely be taken off the roof at the end of the summer, and the long-term plans are still unknown. But he says they represent a valuable artifact and a sign of what could have been if the country had followed Carter's lead (David Biello, Scientific American, Aug. 6).