Obama's Climate Action Plan: Domestic Renewable Energy

In his augural speech, Obama had announced he would double the production of renewable energy in the United States in the next three years

         Last week, President Obama had presented his Climate Action Plan. The goals for the plan are as follows: to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially carbon; to prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change; and to lead international efforts to prevent global warming. Renewable energy is the key component to the plan, whereas the growth of clean energy sources are steadily increasing.
        President Obama had expressed his enthusiasm in his speech that "over the past four years, we've doubled the electricity that we generate from zero-carbon wind and solar power." He continued, "jobs installing the solar panels that now generate more than four times the power at less cost than just a few years ago." Wind has also shown exponential growth over the years: "jobs manufacturing the wind turbines that now generate enough electricity to power nearly 15 million homes." Moreover, "75% of all wind energy in the country is generated in Republican districts."
        Tom Kieran, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, had praised President Obama's climate speech, stating "We welcome the President's initiative to proceed with climate actions focused at this time on executive agencies." "American workers," he added, "make nearly 70% of the equipment deployed here and wind power is more affordable than ever, protecting electric consumers with 25-year contracts and no risk of fuel price shocks."

Closer Details of Mosaic's Crowdfunding Projects

       Mosaic, a solar crowdfunding service, had announced on Monday that it had received permission from California securities regulators to offer $100 million in new investment opportunities in the state. Therefore, on Tuesday, the first of the projects Mosaic had to offer, which was a 114-kilowatt array on the roof of the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego, was quickly fully subscribed. It only took Californians simply 6 hours to invest $157,750 in the project, which happened to offer a 4.5% annual return.

2012 Mosaic-financed project in Oakland

"The future is distributed clean energy, funded by the people. These are investments in infrastructure and they offer competitive returns," Mosaic President and Founder Billy Parish said. "More projects will be coming online soon."
        The public is already prepared for such projects to be offered for Mosaic had originally launched in January with four projects totaling to an amount of $313,000 and had sold out in less than 24 hours. More than 400 investors had invested between the amounts of $25 and $30,000, with the average investment being approximately $700.
        Solar financing in the United States is said to be held mainly in the province of Wall Street, with the likes of big corporations as Citi, Credit Suisse and U.S. Bancorp reaping the returns from the steadily growing industry. By Mosaic existing, it is trying to overturn the way things are (especially the way solar financing is done) at a very small scale to start.
        However, questions are arising as to whether crowdfunding solar might put inexperienced investors at risk. A recent analysis by Rocky Mountain Institute consultant Jessie Morris largely put those fears to rest, while recognizing that returns never came without risks. Not only this but Mosaic has moved to backing up its claim to offer "high-quality projects" by backing truSolar, an effort to develop standards for rating solar projects by risk. Founding members of truSolar include Mosaic, DuPont, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Booz Allen Hamilton, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Assurant.