On a day of remembrance for former President Jimmy Carter, his pioneering contributions to solar energy live on here in Massachusetts.
“Jimmy Carter … was way ahead of his time in understanding this type of energy from the sun,” said John Archer, vice president of nonprofit Solar Now, whose volunteers maintain a field of solar panels in Beverly that dates back to the Carter administration.
In fact, the Dr. John W. Coleman Greenergy Park array outside Beverly High School is the last of the eight U.S. sites for solar panels chosen by Carter when he was president that’s still in use, said Solar Now Director Brad Bradshaw, “which speaks to his foresight in terms of what the role of solar could be.”…