Grattan Out

Here’s an interesting one. The Grattan Institute has done a study on rooftop solar in Australia and figured out that, to date, the benefits have accumulated to $9.4b but at a cost of $18.7b.

Hence the implied argument that we maybe should have never gone there.

The first thing to note is that most of that cost is upfront capital investment into a long term asset with almost zero operating costs that will continue to generate a benefit well past this snapshot in time. For the next thirty years in fact.

Also that capital investment came from both government (through subsidies) and personal pockets. If it hadn’t been invested in solar then it would likely have been spent on non yielding activities such as foreign cars and holidays, or in the case of the government on pork barrelling.

So the economic conclusions that they are trying to imply are quite erroneous.

Beyond this though, you fools, what price our environment?

Same paper, same day; the South Mississippi electricity group is building a new coal burning power plant where the carbon dioxide is captured and injected down old mines (so it can slowly leak out slowly over the next few decades).

The true cost? $247 per month per subscriber! Bad, bad juju.