Solar Energy Rebate – for who?

I’ve just bought my very first house. It’s all very exctining and like with any new toy, I’ve been out shopping for accessories. What better accessories for a house than some green or energy efficient additions.

So I went out looking at the Federal Government initiatives for solar panels. Now I know solar panels aren’t the greatest when it comes to their carbon footprint. I believe the quote goes something like “they’ll never create enough energy to replace the energy that went in to manufacturing them in the first place” but at the same time, they are helping and heck I think it’d be kinda cool.

So off I went searching for details on these rebates and the first thing that jammed in to my eye is the key eligibility criteria: you must earn less than $100,000 in your household.

OK – huh?

In Australia we currently have an insane housing market with a standard home costing $300,000 – 400,000. In order to get a home loan, you either need to have a pretty well paying job, or a couple of them, or have your nana drop dead and leave you a small fortune.

So you’ve saved and worked hard and you’ve finally bought your house. All your money is being poured in to the mortgage and you might have enough left over to eat, maybe even buy yourself some new pants.

Then the next question I have to ask is if you have managed to earn less than $100,000 a year, buy yourself a house and still manage to live, how are you going to able to afford to buy any solar panels? I mean, it’s only a rebate – you’ve still got to foot the bill yourself to start with.

What this has led me to though, is a money making scheme. Mobile homes. Caravans. Tents and shantys. These guys are all probably earning less than $100,000 a year, and using very little power. If you were to wander the alleys of your local caravan park and loan people the money to buy their own solar panels, even letting them keep the rebate for themselves, then signing them up to a contract whereby all revenue from the panels gets paid to you. They get free power and because so much excess power would be fed back in to the grid, you could make a fortune!

If anyone goes out and tried this idea, send me 5%. If you work in government on the solar panel rebate – please get them to reconsider the amount for the means test.