On Oct 21, 1:30*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 21 Oct 2010 08:08:12 -0400,
wrote:

That must explain why Walmart, (a publically traded company that is
LEGALLY REQUIRED to do what is in the best interest of shareholders
financial interests) is doing it all over the place. If it didn't have
a demonstrable ROI, they couldn't do it. They are responsible and
legally bound to the shareholders.


This poster has an obvious misunderstanding of how corporations work
and what they are legally required to do. There is no legal
requirement that every activity they undertake must have a
demonstrable ROI. One clear example is money corporations donate to
charities, schools, etc. In the case of any environmental endeavor,
not that they even have to give a good explanation, but if some gadfly
asked at the annual meeting "Why are you wasting money on XYZ green
project?", all they have to say is that they want to be an
environmentally responsible corporation and they believe it helps the
corporate image and brings value in the long run. End of story.

In the case of Walmart, I don't know how much they are spending/doing
with green energy, but I can guarantee it's such a small drop in the
bucket, that it's impact on the bottom line is negligible. And their
motivation is likely driven in part to try to alleviate all the bad
publicity they get from the left wing loons who try to portray them as
some kind of evil empire.

Anyone that understands the basic facts about solar electricity knows
that without large govt subsidies, it's totally economically unviable
for replacement of conventional electricity at today's electricity
rates. With a 40% federal subsidy and various state subsidies, then
it can make sense for an individual or corporation, but only because
the rest of us are paying for it. How much sense that makes is
highly questionable. Clearly, there isn't enough subsidy money
available for deployment to make even a dent in our overall
electricity usage. There is the theory that by doing so, it will
eventually drive the price down so that it becomes cost effective and
can stand on it's own. But a good question then becomes, rather than
using billions of taxpayers money to deploy something that isn't cost
effective, could the money or even less money be used more effectively
for research to develop solar technology and manufacturing methods
that would be cost effective?



It doesn't have to be a complete replacement for anything else to be
effective.

Walmart can get generous payments from the government that your
average homeowner may not be able to manage and they also write some
of this off to advertising.
A whole lot of Florida residents are still waiting for their promised
$4 a watt for solar installs and the program is broke. A big
corporation might be able to wangle a tax break, unavailable to
mortals.

The other unanswered question is what impact does the solar
installation have on the lifespan of your roof and who pays to remove
and reinstall it when the roof goes bad?

Yes, just another example of a real issue that people gloss over.
Clearly if you install one on a new roof, you'd buy the longest life
shingles and then the roof and system should have about the same
lifespan. But if you have a 12 year old roof, then what?



I looked at all of this and passed on the idea, mostly because I found
out the Florida rebate wasn't coming.

In NJ, between the Fed tax credit and the utilities being required to
buy green energy certificates to meet state mandates, it works out to
be feasible here. NJ also has a state credit program to help pay for
the system upfront, but it's a typical govt cluster screw job. They
allocated X millions to it and give out the money quarterly. Last
quarter, they had so many applications, they ran out of money. And
one would think that they would then pro-rate the money so everyone
got their fair share. No, it doesn't work that way. Some got $10K
+, others got zippo. And to get it, you have to submit a complete
application which includes a ton of certification data, a signed
contract with the company installing it, etc. BEFORE you install it.
So, the poor jerks that did all that last quarter and didn't get
squat, can now start the process all over again, because they don't
just put you on the list, they toss the whole thing and you start all
over again.



BTW the other thing I found out, the cheap way to get some used
collectors is to talk to a roofer. If you are willing to remove them
yourself they might be close to free.