In the late 70s, Carter was already on board, heavily investing federal funding into solar research. Then came Reagan and the funding stopped, as Big Oil had its way on everything. It would have been nice if we had used the intervening 40 years to prepare for a transition from fossil fuels, which climate scientists, even at EXXON, were well aware was essential to our long-term survival on this planet. But thanks to the goddamned Republikans,. we missed the boat on that one, and now it's far too late...