Image: Dana Smillie / World Bank
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Currently, the California-based solar projects open for investment through the Mosaic platform are offering a 4-6% annual fixed return (Mosaic keeps a fee of 1% of the money raised). That's a pretty sound deal—just as good as one of those mutual funds my grandparents bought me. Not only that, but your cash is funding something that's decidedly more tangible than a publicly-traded stock.On Monday, the company opened the doors to investors in New York and California, to fund three new solar projects. Billy Parish, founder and president of Mosaic, wrote in an email "We’re doing a kind of “solar money bomb” today, aiming to fully fund some of the projects we just listed. A few of the projects are already almost fully funded…I’m blown away by the support." As of 2pm Pacific time, they've had 230 investors put in $144,800.Green guru Bill McKibben is impressed, too. He calls Mosaic's model "actuarially sound, ecologically sound, and spiritually sound."You, the investor, are actually financing that glorious slate of silicon that brings clean energy to a community. You, the investor, are giving folks an actuarial alternative to coal or gas or nuclear power. You, the investor, are distributing power amongst the people, helping to break the hold that monopolistic utilities have over our power delivery system.If you're a professional trader or a Silicon Valley insider, go for the high-risk, high-reward cleantech stocks. If you're a homeowner, install the panels. If you're an ordinary fellow like the rest of us, throw some bucks at a solar project and make a solid return in the process.