The president had made several important speeches about the need to conserve energy, and this was one of his first concrete proposals to support alternative energy. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way Carter hoped. First, the Iran hostage crisis put everything else on the back burner. Then Carter lost the 1980 presidential race to Ronald Reagan, who was not particularly interested in solar energy. A few years later, in 1986, Reagan had the solar panels removed and put into storage. Eventually, the panels were donated to Unity College, in Maine, where they were once again used to provide hot water for a cafeteria. Today, one of the panels is on display at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta.