{"id":7464,"date":"2013-03-10T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=7464"},"modified":"2013-03-10T12:05:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-10T16:05:31","slug":"crowdfunding-as-a-boost-for-green-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2013\/03\/10\/crowdfunding-as-a-boost-for-green-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunding as a boost for “green” projects?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crowd funding was the topic of an international conference last year in Spain. Photo: BlackBox_Innova<\/a>, CC some rights reserved<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In Box readers often enjoy pointing out problems – problems with government policy, with business practices, with personal behavior. I’d hope that In Box readers are also on the lookout for possible solutions.<\/p>\n

When it comes to energy issues, there’s been much discussion in this blog about the playing field. Many say it’s far from level – which means new technologies face steep disadvantages.<\/p>\n

Is this something best left to the free market? Is there a role for active government intervention? How? Why? Who decides? Should taxpayers get sucked into the mire? (On and on it goes.)<\/p>\n

So, what if there was a way that anyone with a few extra bucks could invest, earn a decent return, support green energy technology – and do all that without leaning on taxpayers? Sounds aluring, doesn’t it? Rather win-win.<\/p>\n

Of course when it comes to solutions (and investments) the proof is really in the pudding. Still,\u00a0I was\u00a0<\/span><\/span>intrigued\u00a0by this recent New York Times article, <\/span><\/span><\/span>Crowdfunding Clean Energy<\/a>, by David Bornstein.<\/span><\/p>\n

The article cites just\u00a0<\/span>one company<\/a> as an example, which isn’t really enough to prove anything. But it sounds amazing:<\/span><\/p>\n

When Mosaic posted its first four investments online \u2013 solar projects offering 4.5 percent returns to investors who could participate with loans as small as $25 \u2014 the company\u2019s co-founder, Billy Parish, thought it would take a month to raise the $313,000 required. Within 24 hours, 435 people had invested and the projects were sold out.\u00a0The company had spent just $1,000 on marketing. All told, Mosaic has raised $1.1 million for a dozen solar projects to date.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frankly, aspects of the narrative bring to mind the old caution: be skeptical about anything that sounds too good to be true. (<\/span>This post takes no position on any of the companies cited, they are just introduced for the purpose of discussion.) And yet…<\/span><\/p>\n

Crowdfunding or crowdsourcing<\/a> is pretty trendy these days. All sorts of projects have been launched by way of Kickstarter<\/a> campaigns. There’s great interest in its potential – and real concern about possible downsides, as explored<\/a> in another NYT article:<\/p>\n

To its advocates, crowdfunding is a way for capital-starved entrepreneurs to receive financing that neither big investors nor lenders are willing or able to provide. To others, it represents a potential minefield that could help bad businesses get off the ground before they eventually fail, and in some cases could even ensnare unsophisticated investors in outright fraud.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Without a doubt, any new investment model requires lots of “buyer beware” or an ability to kiss the money goodbye, should the investment fizzle out. Practically anyone can throw up a good-looking web site that showcases a non-existant or dubious company. It’s not too hard to employ pyramid scheme payments to lure investors in either. Environmental do-gooders might be especially easy marks, lulled into thinking that a fellow\u00a0<\/span><\/span>environmentalist\u00a0couldn’t possible be a rip-off artist. (Do-gooders need to harden their hearts sometimes.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Also, for all that many want clean, renewables to succeed, solar energy in particular carries a lot of volatility right now. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not the technology itself, that’s pretty good and swiftly getting better. Rather, the business side of manufacturing and distributing the equipment – or investing in the same – seems quite challenging at present. China seems to have taken a lead that might be hard to regain, or\u00a0<\/span><\/span>compete\u00a0against.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But is crowdfunding’s risk so very different than buying stock on the stock market? (It might be! I’m looking for reader input on this question.)<\/p>\n

Finding new things that work – in technology and in funding – is going to be hit and miss. Results (or necessary regulations) will emerge over time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I like the idea that lots of “little people” can make a difference – and maybe even reap financial rewards for getting new goals accomplished. <\/span><\/p>\n

File this under “stay tuned” I guess. Along with a big dollop of buyer beware!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Box readers often enjoy pointing out problems – problems with government policy, with business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[11440,11442,11441,11102],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7484,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions\/7484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}