I know Jimmy Carter once put solar panels on the White House. Are they still there? If not, where are they now? Great question.In the late spring of 1979, Carter did in fact install a solar system on the White House. There were four solar arrays with tubes inside that carried water heated by the sun to a tank in the White House basement. The hot water was used in the White House staff cafeteria. But it’s important to understand that the solar panels were mainly a symbolic gesture of Carter’s commitment to digging the United States out of the energy crisis of the 1970s. Carter also proposed creating a 100 million dollar “solar bank” to fund solar energy projects throughout the country.