Mosaic connects investors to solar projects in need of financing.

Excerpted from John Robb:

“Here’s an idea for a very simple community financing system from a company called Mosaic.

Currently, they make it easy for people to find, invest, and earn interest on high quality solar projects.

The same mechanism could work as a way to finance solar in a community.

How? By using the system like this to connect local DIY solar installations with individuals that are looking for tangible investments in their communities — everyone with a retirement account should be looking for this. Not only is the outlook for global markets terrible, the current returns are abysmally low.

This is a win-win.

The local investors get returns 4% (!) higher than they get from treasuries and they are actually investing in something tangible in their own back yard.

The people doing the installation get electricity at a low (much less than they are currently paying) fixed rate and eventual ownership of the system.”