No actually. In looking at it from the school districts view, kudos for them in partnering with a private company to make improvements to the building. It can be argued whether solar energy is a worthwhile investment, I agree. But the basic principal of a private business partnering with a school district recieves kudos from me.

I don’t think a comparison to consumer electronics is appropriate. Yes, actually, I probably will be using my furnace for the next 20 years. My cell phone? Probably not. It’s very true that this is unproven technology and the claims need to be proven. I just put a sheet-metal roof on my house, with a 50 year guarantee. We’ll see about that. Should I have used cheap asphalt shingles because they have an established track record, despite that fact that a newish shingle roof on my house was leaking due to some complications of the home’s design?

I don’t have any idea whether or not the Minneapolis Public Schools will tear down Edison High School in 20 years. Would we be having the same discussion if Boston Scientific had donated a new gas-fired boiler to Edison High?

While we can’t see into the future, many arguments against solar power are based on an assumption that today’s economic conditions will continue far into the future. I’ve never found that to be a sound proposition. 4 years ago people were saying that despite high housing prices, residential real estate was still a good deal because prices will only go up. 10 years ago $3.59 gasoline would have been taken as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Coal, Natural Gas and Petroleum are all priced and sold via the international Futures Markets. Global financial events have a huge impact on those prices. A full-blown European banking crisis could easily drive large investors into energy resource futures as a safe haven, which could drive costs up sharply. Most US electricity is generated with coal or natural gas. A price spike in electricity is not out of the question in the coming decade. Why not use a private corporation’s donation to make a hedge bet locking in electricity from a source that will probably be there for a long, long, time?