Mosaic Launches New Tech Platform to Take the Nation Solar

National organizations join to launch product for the first national #PutSolarOnIt Day of Action

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Jun 17, 2014, 09:03 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., June 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Mosaic, the first company to crowdsource investments to finance solar projects, launches Mosaic Places, a technology platform poised to rapidly take the nation solar one place at a time.

Mosaic Places allows the public to rally support and raise funds to put solar on local community centers, schools, libraries, places of worship, and businesses. The site is already seeded with nearly 300,000 places across the United States. The platform asks as little as a petition - people just click "support" to participate. However, serious money can be raised to put solar on a place as Mosaic matches supporters with dollars.

Mosaic Places was born out of a successful New Years pledge launched by Mosaic and actor Mark Ruffalo asking people to #PutSolarOnIt in 2014. While a solar installation was installed, on average, every four minutes in the US in 2013, the nation has put solar on less than 1% of the homes and commercial buildings that would financially benefit from solar on their roofs.

With thousands of incoming pledges for the #PutSolarOnIt campaign, Mosaic built a platform that would help people achieve their commitments. The product launch comes days before the first national #PutSolarOnIt Day of Action this June 21st, the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year.

Any individual or organization can use Mosaic Places by going to www.putsolaronit.com, finding or adding the Place they want to take solar, and sharing their chosen Place's page with their community. For every 50 people that click "support" on a Place's page, Mosaic will donate $100 to put solar on it. In addition, homeowners who go solar through a Mosaic Place's page will be eligible to receive a $500 gift, which they can donate to put solar on that place*. The funds raised are designed to bridge the gap for community buildings whose solar installations may need a few thousand dollars to be financeable by conventional means.

"We have been dreaming about this product for years," said Mosaic President, Billy Parish. "It's based on our belief that every building can go solar if the community is behind it. Mosaic has built a product that enables everyone to participate in transitioning the country to 100% clean energy."

Mosaic Places is co-launching with over a dozen large non-profit partners. The Alliance for Climate Education is using Mosaic Places to empower thousands of high school students across the nation to influence parents to go solar. Interfaith Power & Light will be using Mosaic Places to build campaigns around places of worship going solar. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will use Mosaic Places to take institutions solar across the Southeast United States. REVERB will be using Mosaic Places to help musicians and their fans take their favorite places solar. Among others, 350.org, The Climate Reality Project, Green For All, National Wildlife Federation, Reverb, The Sierra Club, The Solutions Project and World Wildlife Fund will be joining the launch to share Mosaic Places with their communities.

Media Inquiries: Katie Ullmann / 617-529-8039 / [email protected]

*Certain restrictions apply to these programs; more information is available at www.joinmosaic.com/solar.

About Mosaic

Mosaic (http://www.joinmosaic.com) was the first company in America to offer the public investments in solar projects. The company has been awarded the Department of Energy SunShot grant, the top prize for the Verizon Powerful Answers Award, The Sierra Club Trailblazer Award, and one of Fast Company's Top Ten Most Innovative Businesses in Energy.

SOURCE Mosaic