Back in the 70s Jimmy Carter put a solar water heater on the roof of the White House, mostly as a symbol for a new direction of conservation and energy independence. Reagan promptly tore it down as a symbol of, well, he ran on the notion of bringing us "Morning in America", implying we have no reason to feel bad: we should feel "good" again.
We're Americans. We should not have bad news, and we should not "sacrifice" anything, well, at least not any comforts. Besides that the energy industry hated the idea of conservation and energy independence.
Carter also set the objective that America not become more dependent on foreign oil than we were at that time, 30 years ago now. Reagan convinced us we didn't need a pessimist like that.
Mornin'.