JULES: Joint Underwritten Logically Empowered Structures to Catalyze Renewable Energy Projects (2013)
Undergraduate: Walker Rutherfurd
Faculty Advisor: Albert Segars
Department: Business Administration
Distributed renewable energy has many advantages over fossil infrastructures, yet its adoption is mired by a host of factors; foremost of which is the lack of standardized financing for innumerable small scale projects less than $1 million. The engagement of stakeholders and the establishment of acceptable ranges to prompt agreed upon actions will be incorporated into the proposed Joint Underwritten and Logically Empowered Structure (JULES); the then potential joule Purchase Agreement (JPA) being the specific mass marketable standardized derivative instrument correlated to monetized power production. The ultimate result being a standardized, repeatable, adaptable web based platform for financing and implementing renewable energy products and projects. The 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act provided for equity based crowd funding for amounts less than $1 million; rules for which are overdue from the Securities and Exchange Commission. This structure goes further and suggests that all aspects of the framework are better served if they allow for mass collaboration and promote transparency, efficiency and innovation. Inherent is the migration of all interactions and functions to a web based platform that not only optimizes communication and knowledge dissemination, leverages technology advancements for value creation, and allows for mass collaboration of disparate and/or local stakeholders; but also enables real time data collection, reporting, ratings and accountability.