Saving $14,000 per Year by Investing $882,000

Imagine a door-to-door salesman is at your door offering a product which will save you $14,000 per year.  All you need do is invest $882,000.  The $14,000 savings per year will allow you to break even by the year 2075 (63 years from now).  How many do you want? 

Since most people no longer read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, you probably missed the story in their July 4th edition.  Under the headline, “Solar power expected to cut costs in Clayton,” reporter Margaret Gillerman writes, the Heritage Building (which was built in 1952) at 10 South Brentwood Blvd. in Clayton, MO, is being retrofitted to include a 327 solar panel array.  She stated, this installation “. . . will be the largest single installation of solar electricity in the State of Missouri.” 

The cost of the project is $882,000.  The annual savings is $14,000.  We learn in Ms. Gillerman’s piece that “. . . the solar project is largely funded through a federal stimulus grant, plus rebates from Ameren Missouri.”  (As a reminder, every month our federal government spends $100 to $150 Billion more than it takes in.  Maybe this story helps you understand how that is possible.) 

At a ceremony celebrating the installation of the first panel, Sara Parker Pauley, Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources told the assembled crowd of Clayton officials, “You are a shining example for the State of Missouri.” 

According to Ms. Gillerman’s report, Clayton’s Mayor, Linda Goldstein, responded that Clayton was, “. . . committed to being a regional leader in green energy solutions and . . . efficient use of energy.” 

Maybe so, but Mayor Goldstein does not appear to be a regional leader in the efficient use of other people’s money.