28k will get you almost 13

Posted: May 6, 2009 by datechguy in oddities
Tags: ,

At least it does in Australia according to The Australian:

BRISBANE environmental lawyer Jo Bragg and her partner, Gary Kane, spent $28,000 on three roof panels to generate solar power for their home in the inner Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill.

After receiving a federal government rebate of $8000, they hoped to recover their investment in a cleaner planet within a few years by selling excess power into the mains electricity grid.

In the three months to April, they used 1384 kilowatt hours and produced 388 kilowatt hours of excess power, for which they received the princely sum of $12.96 after taxes.

Via Tim Blair who has this measured reaction:

HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAA! HA HA HA HA HA!

Subtly is all.

Update: You might say, but Techguy Blair is wrong it wouldn’t take 385 years to get the money back. After all lets say they were paying $150 a month for their electric bill. That means instead of $13 a quarter it would be $463 a quarter, so they will be showing a profit in just over 11 years.

Of course you should also add the interest they might have made on 28k over 10 years too. In a Cd getting just under 4% they would have made $1000 a year and the amount would have increased by compound interest. That turns things into 25-26 years.

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