Button Street - New Haven Community Solar

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The 411:  Investment Opportunity - Solar and Socially Responsible Design

Found on: - https://www.startengine.com/new-haven-community-solar

Community Solar Starts With You

Invest in New Haven Community Solar

Do you want your investment to influence positive change? Do you care about the environmental and social impacts of your investment? Are you frustrated by traditional investment pathways? If so, New Haven Community Solar could be just the investment you are looking for...

New Haven Community Solar will finance  a 9.24 kW community solar project located on Button Street in New Haven, Connecticut. The lot on Button Street is the site of this year's annual Jim Vlock First Year Building Project – a partnership between the Yale School of Architecture (YSoA) and Columbus House. Columbus House is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven that serves people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless by providing shelter and housing and by fostering their personal growth and independence. Once the power purchase contracts are finalized, this project will provide Columbus House access to low-cost electricity to further their mission.

Unique among architecture schools, the Jim Vlock First Year Building Project, which began in 1967, gives Yale students an opportunity to design and build a house in an economically challenged neighborhood in New Haven. The program is mandatory for all first-year graduate students in YSoA, many who arrive at Yale with a special interest in socially responsible design.

Once complete, the Button Street House will contain two units, and provide recently homeless people with a brand new home. New Haven Community Solar is a company that exists to finance a solar array on the roof, providing its residents with cheap renewable energy in a state with one of the highest electricity costs. This project aims to improve the livelihoods of the residents and minimize environmental impacts, while allowing investors to benefit.

Franz Hochstrasser

CEO

The Button Street House

The house that will host the NHCS solar array is currently under construction, with a move-in date scheduled for October 1st. The project that New Haven Community Solar will finance ,once the funds are raised and the contracts are finalized, is a solar photovoltaic array that is designed to be a 9.24 kW solar array on top of the house on Button Street. The house is the site of the annual Yale School of Architecture Jim Vlock Building Project, which is in partnership with Columbus House.

The Project

The company plans to finance  a 9.24 kW community 

solar project for the Button 

Street House, and anticipates earning returns through a 

long-term contract to sell 

discounted electricity to Columbus House, which is 

currently still in the final 

negotiation stage.  Additionally, future revenue may be 

generated through the sale 

of the project, through monetization of tax-credits, or 

through selling renewable 

energy credits from the clean energy generated by the 

solar array.

This project will provide Columbus House access to 

low-cost electricity to further 

their mission. We believe this project will result in 

inexpensive power being 

provided to lower income residents in a state with one 

of the highest energy costs 

in the United States. In addition to providing 

environmental benefits, this project 

frees up much needed income for its beneficiaries. 

In a society where income is the 

greatest social determinant of health, we believe that 

this project will have 

significant health-oriented co-benefits as well. We will 

document environmental, 

social and financial impacts carefully to steward your 

investment with the 

utmost integrity and transparency.

The Investment

Do you want to fight climate change? The clean infrastructure of the future is being built right now. Do you want to own a piece?

Renewable energy infrastructure is only going to grow in coming years. An estimated one trillion dollars of investment in renewable infrastructure is needed every year to achieve the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

Until recently, only people with access to a lot of money could own and earn money from solar projects. NHCS offers the opportunity to benefit from solar to everyday people, while also bringing benefits to people in the community.

In addition to the opportunity to own a part of this project, there are significant environmental and social benefits to investing in this project.

By financing this solar array, you will enable New Haven Community Solar to significiantly defray the energy costs for the residents. This can make a big difference to low-income individuals, especially in the state of Connecticut where energy prices are among the highest in the country.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the New Haven Community Solar array on Button Street will cut carbon pollution and dangerous air pollution, and will provide environmental benefits that are the equivalent of planting an acre of trees. These benefits will be carefully measured and reported to the investors.

Our Passion for the Project

Together, we bring a combined 30 years of professional experience working on environmental, energy, and climate change issues, from government, to non-profits and the private sector.

Our team is comprised of experienced professionals with a track-record of delivering results on a wide-variety of projects and programs. We are also recent graduates of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a renewed mission to combat climate change and fight for social justice through entrepreneurial solutions. We are relentlessly passionate about using financial technology to democratize the ownership of renewable energy, create new income streams, reduce greenhouse emissions, and empower communities to drive change.