Renewables.org, the solar investing non-profit, has released a $25 gift card. In seconds, send an investment in Global South solar to the friends and family. They'll be reminded of your gift with every monthly repayment as Panels generate and sell electricity.
Renewables.org, the online solar investing non-profit, allows anyone to invest in operating solar panels in the Global South and get paid back as they generate and sell electricity to the grid. We recently launched a gift card product that allows you to 'give the gift of climate impact' by sending solar investments to friends and family.
In the Global South, energy needs are outpacing those of developed nations - and their power grids are more carbon intensive. Without action, emissions will continue to grow.
In developed markets like the U.S., a vibrant finance ecosystem ensures that money is available to build new solar projects. But in the Global South, lack of funding is the main barrier to new solar project construction.
Renewables.org works with Global South solar developers who build some of the world's highest-impact solar projects.
When you invest with Renewables.org (or buy a gift card) your money is placed into the Renewables Fund. Cash from this fund is lent to our partners, enabling them to build solar where it does the most good.
As the solar projects generate and sell electricity, the revenue earned enables the Renewables Fund to pay you back. You can withdraw repayments or reinvest them — as our community grows, we're able to accelerate solar deployment where it's needed most.
We pay you back the full amount of your purchase over five years, it's like a 0% interest loan that creates five times the climate impact of a typical US solar investment.
I am building Renewables.org with co-founder Premal Shah, who is known for cofounding Kiva.org, the popular micro-finance non-profit. Like Kiva, Renewables.org seeks to catalyze an underserved finance vertical by engaging a community of everyday altruists by making philanthropy simple and transparent.
With your help, Renewables.org will accelerate the transition to solar energy across the Global South.
Fantastic product, I look forward to its massive expansion.
One question for @lassor : people are used to spending gift cards. This one, on the other hand, gets invested. Kiva managed to educate their users of this model, after many years. Do you foresee any challenges in convincing gift card recipients to return to the platform to re-invest the funds they received? What else will they get along the way, besides the dashboard update?
Thanks for the question, @ovi_hentea.
What inspired me to work on this project in the first place is the passion I saw so many homeowners have for apps that came with their residential rooftop solar. Even though the apps are hard to use and serve no real purpose, so many homeowners I talked to were hooked, checking in on their panels several times a week or even several times a day.
With Renewables, we plan to create beautiful monitoring software with amazing information graphics — but also leverage social features (like an impact leaderboard) and features that make the experience more rewarding (like badges and rewards).
Finally, I want to bring to life what your choice to invest on Renewables.org means for stakeholders on the ground with journalistic content. Kiva has incredible profiles of borrowers for every single loan they make which lends find really compelling. In contrast, Renewables will focus on higher quality, long form content for broadcast distribution.
For now, our MVP allows you to see a basic sketch and foundation of these features, but already many of our investors have made follow on investments. I think as we grow from a 2-person startup to a more mature organization, we'll be able to make the offering irresistible.
@johnwitchel we took off a few weeks ago on the 'anti-consumerism' subreddit for this exact reason. Whether your gift card recipient is a minimalist who hates physical products or someone who is hard to shop to because they already have it all, Renewables.org Global South solar investments are a great gift.
I see Renewables.org as the marriage of two ideas I've loved for years: micro-lending, and utility-scale solar. The presence of Premal Shah on this board inspires confidence in me that despite the challenges inherent in lending across continents, the results are going to be great. Very glad t have this option for putting my money to work where it's needed most! Best of luck to the team!
Renewables.org Gift Cards provide a unique opportunity to protect our environment. The Renewables.org team is also committed to educating members of its growing community.
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