Almance Technology sells the Solar Cat Eye System, which generates electrical power from solar cells built into the bright reflective lenses embedded in the surface of roadways to mark the travel lanes. (These lenses are referred to as cat eyes because they reflect headlights brightly at night, allowing the driver to see the borders of a lane when it is too dark to see painted stripes clearly.) When the Solar Cat Eye System is installed in the surface of a road, it allows the owner of the road to generate power that can charge batteries for nearby road signs, emergency phones or signal lights, saving the cost of the electricity that would otherwise have to be purchased to operate these systems. A Solar Cat Eye installation costs $150,000 to set up the operating system, plus $1,500 per mile of solar cat eyes installed directly into the road. Each mile of solar cat eyes creates the equivalent of $300 a year in revenue through its electrical generation, with no variable cost of generation.

a. Maricopa County is considering purchasing a Solar Cat Eye Installation for 200 miles of road it will be re-paving this summer. How much would this system cost?

b. If Maricopa County does purchase a Solar Cat Eye system for its summer re-paving project, how many years of electrical generation must it provide before it breaks even?

c. Some officials in Maricopa County have argued that this summer's re-paving project is too small to support a technology upgrade such as the Solar Cat Eye system. However, the State Highway Department might be convinced to share the $150,000 fixed cost with Maricopa County if it can share the same operating system for Solar Cat Eyes scheduled it will then purchase and install in a nearby state highway. If the two organizations can reach an agreement to share the fixed cost equally, how will this change the Maricopa County's breakeven point?