“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 just be a small part of one of the most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people — harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil.” President Jimmy Carter, June 20, 1979
NORFOLK — In 1979, at the height of a national energy crisis when OPEC countries limited the flow of oil to the West, U.S. President Jimmy Carter began a federal initiative to jumpstart the development and use of alternative energy. The goal of “Solar America” was that 20% of America’s energy would be renewable by the year 2000. Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House to heat the water used in the West Wing.
Norfolk’s Tom Strumolo was on the original team that installed the 32 solar panels. He was part of a band of young, long-haired New England solar energy mavericks who made history.
As a recent Yale graduate, Strumolo was working in the new Energy Department in Hartford where he met Gordon Priess from Mystic, Connecticut. He was “a heat transfer guy who designed water heaters, and became chief engineer of the White House project,” according to Strumolo. They learned the White House was taking bids for a big solar installation, and their $50,000 bid was accepted.
Ed Butler, a Connecticut native, joined the crew. Butler and his partner Rick Schwolsky founded Sunrise Solar Services in Vermont in 1976. They gathered friends with skills necessary for the project. Students from a Groton, Connecticut, technical school welded the steel framework. They transported it to DC on a flatbed truck. The General Services Agency (GSA) installed 1” plywood to protect the entire White House lawn. A massive crane rolled in to lift the entire structure to the roof of the West Wing.
Strumolo laughed, recalling that security was very tight. “Our Secret Service detail told us ‘We shoot to kill,’ so we did not mess around.” They had sniffer dogs checking them out each day. When President and First Lady Rosalynn Carter climbed to the roof for an official photograph, Strumolo warned the President the paint was still wet on the metal. Carter said, “I am not going to mess up your paintjob!” Strumolo was more concerned about the President’s suit.
President Ronald Reagan had the solar panels removed from the White House in 1981. The parts were stored for years in a warehouse. The Reagan Administration reduced Carter’s renewable energy program by 90%. Half of the White House solar panels were moved to Unity College in Maine where they heated the water in the dining hall for 12 years. Some of the original solar panels reside in the Carter Museum and the National Museum of American History.
Tom Strumolo of Norfolk, founder Energy General LLC, was on the crew that installed solar panels on the roof of the White House for President Jimmy Carter in 1979.Jennifer Almquist
Jody Bronson, forester emeritus of Norfolk’s Great Mountain Forest (GMF), recalled, “Ed Butler’s team installed the solar panels on the White House for Jimmy Carter. My wife Jean and I have three of the panels that were supposedly installed on the White House. We can’t confirm this. In 1990 they were installed on our home in Falls Village by Ed Butler. The panels are still functional and have provided all the domestic hot water for our house for 35 years! If more households in our area had done this 30 or 40 years ago, think about how much energy they could have saved.” Bronson said there is a treasured can of “Billy Beer” in the Forestry Office at GMF.
Butler reminisced, “I was really excited when we won the bid to work on the solar project at President Jimmy Carter’s White House. It was such a great opportunity for a relatively small New England solar company. It was something I believed so strongly in and was proud to have been a part of it. Since 1976, we have done several hundred solar jobs in New England.”
Strumolo remains committed to “creating adequate and equitable responses to our changing climate.” He wrote “Decentralizing Energy Production” (Yale Press, 1983) and was a driving force behind the recently installed 13-acre solar array at the town’s transfer station. His energy audits have been used in thousands of buildings. After fifty years Strumolo is “still working, still on the path Carter inspired me to follow. There is so much work left to be done.” In 2008, artists from the Kunsthaus in Zurich created a film, “A Road Not Taken”, which will be shown at the Norfolk Library Feb. 15.
In the words of the late President Jimmy Carter, “Pessimism did not build America, it was built with vision, faith, and hard work. It is time to pull ourselves out of our national doldrums, to recognize our great untapped potential and resources, to build a more prosperous, self-reliant future.” Had the original solar panels remained in use on the White House they could have saved 20,000 gallons of heating oil.
First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Jim Butler (blue shirt), Ron Chick (with the hat), President Carter, Warren Herlein (with beard), Tom Strumolo (yellow shirt), Gordon Priess (sunglasses) with the newly installed solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979.Photo provided by Tom Strumolo
The Salisbury town crew out plowing and salting Monday morning.
Schools, municipal offices, churches and numerous community events were canceled or postponed through Monday as plowing operations continued and temperatures dropped into the single digits overnight.
Despite the severity of the storm, local officials said preparation efforts helped keep roads passable and emergency services operating — though many towns acknowledged the financial toll of repeated storms this winter.
“In December, we had seen as much snow as all of winter last year,” North Canaan First Selectman Jesse Bunce said Friday, before the storm arrived, citing conversations with his highway crew. “Our salt budget is getting thin, and costs like this are tough. But we have to do it no matter what happens. Public safety comes first.”
Bunce said the town had likely exceeded its snow-removal budget even before the weekend storm. Crews logged nearly 30 hours during the Jan. 17–18 weekend alone, he said, after back-to-back storms required repeated plowing and salting.
“A typical snowstorm might mean a four-hour route for our crews — three or four inches that stops overnight, allowing them to head out early in the morning,” Bunce said. “But when storms drag out, it really lengthens the work.”
North Canaan employs four full-time highway workers, with an additional employee on call for larger storms. Bunce said the town has some reserve funds and expects to shift money within the budget to cover overruns.
Falls Village First Selectman Dave Barger said his town is facing similar pressures.
“We will be over budget,” Barger said Friday. “We have used more salt this season than we used all last year — and we’re only halfway through the winter.”
Several officials pointed to a recent rain-to-freeze cycle as particularly costly, turning snow into inches of ice that required heavier treatment. Some towns adjusted their salt usage by mixing materials to conserve supplies. North Canaan, for example, has used a blend of roughly two-thirds salt and one-third sand, Bunce said. Salt currently costs about $120 per ton, compared to roughly $20 per ton for sand.
Kent First Selectman Eric Epstein said his town entered the storm well stocked and operationally ready. “The highway department has been busy and has gone through a lot of material this year,” Epstein said Friday. “We’ve had deliveries, we’re well stocked, and the trucks are in good shape. There has been an increase in costs, but so far, it’s within the budget. We’ll see if this pattern continues.”
Richard Tietjen, a sexton at the Salisbury Congregational Church, shoveled some 16 inches of snow from the church's front steps Monday morning, Jan. 26.By Patrick L Sullivan
Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand said Thursday that highway crews were prepared, while Sharon First Selectman Casey Flanagan also reported that his town had taken steps to be ready for prolonged snowfall and extreme cold.
Beyond road conditions, the storm triggered broader cold-weather planning at the state level.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, Lamont’s office announced that Connecticut’s Cold Weather Protocol would go into effect ahead of the storm’s arrival, activating coordination between state agencies and municipalities.
The protocol is designed to protect vulnerable populations during periods of life-threatening cold, including arranging transportation to warming centers and shelters when needed. Residents seeking shelter were urged to visit 211ct.org or call 2-1-1 for assistance.
Municipalities also reached out directly to residents. The Town of Cornwall circulated an advisory email urging people to check on neighbors and vulnerable residents and reminding them of the town’s Storm Safety Check-In program, which provides advance notice of major weather events and wellness checks when necessary.
As crews continued plowing into Monday, local leaders said the storm underscored both the importance — and the growing cost — of winter preparedness.
"A year like this, with so much activity, it’s inevitable,” Bunce said. “We anticipate going over budget. But we’ll take it as it comes and keep the roads safe.”
With additional reporting by Patrick L Sullivan
