Oh great, they take back batteries now. So when we peek out back we'll find a dumpster full of regular trash and batteries, just like with the ink cartridges. Solar my ass. A big PV array, paid for by ANOTHER company and a state grant, does not make up for this kind of behavior.

The trend, not the company, is what is important. SunEdison is in the business of installing PV for free and charging for the power. This is a model that could really speed up the rollout of Solar, as it gets over the hurdle of the initial investment. In theory, if the economics work, this financial model could be extended to residential (where it might even make more sense, because residential electric rates are higher than commercial, driving the payback time down).

I don't know about you, but going and borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for a solar system is not something I would do easily. Signing a contract with another company to install a system and buying the power from them, is.

Think of this a a pilot program. For whatever other sins Staples may have, they deserve credit for following thru on this. Sure it's a good deal for them, but of all the big box retailers in Conn, they are the one that did it.

Walmart supposedly is considering a similar program. Don't mock progress (and it's going to take progress with the big companies to make this mainstream) just because you don't agree with 100% of a companies policies or behaviors.

In any developed economy, the bulk of power consumption will be commercial and industrial. Home conservation and car-limiting is nice, but for real savings, the big players need to come on board.

Fortunately, businesses listen to economics and not politics. If you live in a conservative neighborhood and you go all solar and green-roof, you're going to be subjected to ridicule and ostracism, but companies don't have to worry about that. The only inertia they have to overcome is on the balance sheet.

Commerical installations are also better equipped to handle the security and exotic insurance issues that come with these installations. Small PV panels are easy to steal off of a residential roof, but a large establishment is going to have security patrols, cameras, and lighting.

Quick correction - the local utility did not design or finance, or in fact have much at all to do with the system (other than porbably OKing it electrically.) Sun Edison does these nationwide - www.sunedison.com .

No, this is different. This is not a company that has some damaging practices due to business as usual for many decades. This is a company who implemented a specific policy, one year ago, to lure in eco concious customers who wanted to recycle their cartridges, just to then throw them in the dumpster.

I'm all for positive change. But recent, blatant, dishonest and environmentally damaging practices? That's a whole different ball game. So one solar roof in no way makes up for this practice, and it is absolutely valid to assume they are doing the same with the returned batteries. Until they prove otherwise, they have already proven their dishonesty with recycling programs.