Direct investment in renewable energy projects has been an
anticipated financing option among editorialists and bloggers the
past year, and seems to finally be gaining traction in the United
States.
The idea that individuals would network and pool money for a
common goal is not a novel concept. The American Red Cross has
long employed this method to assist in disaster relief. Kiva has
raised money for microloans to small businesses in developing
economies. More recently, platforms such as Kickstarter and
Indiegogo have made crowdfunding a popular way to raise money for
entrepreneurs.
Crowdfunding has already expanded to renewable energy projects
through donation-based platforms. However, due to securities
regulations in the United States (and sometimes securities
regulations in other countries because of the international nature
of crowdfunding) companies typically do not provide investors
interest on their investments. Therefore, these projects often
rely on
