The Solar Mosaic

I was told that nearby trees made my own home unsuited to solar, but this project in Oakland offers SHARES in a solar project on a school or other property that IS suited to solar.

Not only that, it says everybody who joins this “crowdfunded” project gets PAID BACK:

For each $100 Solar Mosaic Tile purchased in Oakland Solar Mosaic project, the following will happen:

-Over 50 watts of clean, beautiful solar power will be installed
-An Oakland non-profit, school, or community center will save over $125 on their utility bills
-Another $150 of community solar will be purchased with project proceeds: solar funding solar
-Nearly a TON of coal can be left in the ground, where it belongs
-Local green jobs will be created
–You’ll get paid back!

Paid back?? That sounds like FREE ELECTRICITY to me. I thought solar was still a long way from breaking even, but apparently it’s already able to create free self-perpetuating energy.

Should I send $100 — thereby saving a non-profit $125, creating another $150 worth of solar with “project proceeds” AND getting my money back? More to the point, why wouldn’t the US Government just dump say, $100 billion into the project, saving $125 billion on utility bills, creating another $150 billion of solar power, AND getting its $100 billion back? Problem solved!