Another heartwarming solar story

A little over a year ago, Steve did a post about your tax dollar being used to install solar panels at a fishery.  The cost will be recouped in 70 years of lower electric power costs, but the panels have a useful life of 25 to 40 years.  It was necessary for the government to use your tax dollars for this because no sane business would even contemplate such a project.

We now learn about a similar project, this time in Arlington County, Virginia.

Don’t ask why the feds are giving one of the five wealthiest counties in America free money.

This time, $300,000 of your money was devoted to the installation of solar panels at the Arlington County library.  By doing so, the county will save about $150,000 in electric power costs over 15 years.  But, these panels are projected to have a useful life of, you guessed it, 15 years.

Some 3,000 counties across the country received federal funds for the same kind of negative-return energy conservation ‘investments…’

If my math is correct, that is a total expenditure of almost $1 billion on economically unsound projects.

Doesn’t this country have something better to do with $1 billion?

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

6 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on September 28, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    By “heartwarming”, do you mean the taxpayer is getting burned again?



    • MikeS on September 28, 2011 at 8:20 pm

      I think “buttburning” is more like it.



  2. essneff on September 28, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    Some more “heartwarming ” news……. the Obama Administration just approved another $1 billion in loans to 2 more Solyndra type solar panel companies…….. seems that they have to burn through the last $10 billion?from the the first $850,000,000,000 stimulus passed in 2009 by 9/30/2011?or lose it……. Stay thirsty my friends!



  3. Plainvillian on September 29, 2011 at 7:29 am

    So silly to be concerned with ROI in terms of years and product lifespan.? The ruling political elites who authorize these investments only worry about the ROI on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even numbered years.



  4. PatRiot on September 29, 2011 at 11:51 am

    I must be crazy.?
    I keep giving my tax money to DC and expecting them to be?responsible with it.



    • Dimsdale on September 30, 2011 at 12:44 pm

      There is a big difference between “you giving” and “them taking”.? The absolute power to take usurps any requirement to be responsible to us.



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