Debt securities may have helped bring down the global economy during the Great Recession. But asset-backed solar bonds and other financial instruments, crowdfunded by enlightened consumers and investors, could prove much more lucrative — and perhaps save our sorry butts from the worst of climate change.
It’s a logical conclusion to draw after SunPower (logically) announced it too is joining the securitization game like Solar City, the first player to make the jump last year. SunPower launches the first tranche of notes backed by its leases in the second half of 2014, in hopes of raising hundreds of millions for 2015 and beyond.
But it’s not alone. Others like Canadian Solar and Jinko Solar are considering following Solar City and SunPower’s corporate rethink into solar crowdfunding, according to Reuters.
But they’re simply following wider cultural and economic patterns — from renewable energy to Kickstarter to bitcoin and more — leading to a future where consumers have decarbonized and decentralized their lives.