Sun King

HAYES BARNARD figured out how to bring costly solar power within financial reach of most homeowners. As he makes his debut on The Forbes 400, his ambitions are loftier still: to turn every American dream green.

"What if you were sitting on the antidote for Covid and you didn't deploy it? That's how I feel," says Hayes Barnard as he guides his 2012 Tesla Model S through the sweltering streets of Austin, Texas. The 50-year-old software salesman turned serial entrepreneur is making the case that his fintech, GoodLeap, is helping save the planet-as well as making him rich. Some 40% of U.S. greenhouse emissions come from buildings, compared to 25% from transportation.

"We have to electrify the home. We have to!" he exhorts, his voice rising. "If not us, who?" Of course, GoodLeap isn't exactly electrifying Americans' homes. Contractors are doing that. But it is making it possible for ordinary homeowners to instantly finance solar installations, paying the cost over 25 years with their monthly utility bill savings, with a little left over each month. "People don't want to do it unless they know they're saving money from day one," Barnard says. "That guy in Dubuque, Iowa, isn't thinking about how he can lower his carbon footprint, but he is thinking about how he can save $50 a month.

GoodLeap now finances a market-leading 28% of all home solar installations nationwide, handing out nearly $1 billion in loans each month, enough to cover 27,000 homeowners. It's gearing up for even bigger numbers, thanks in part to the tens of billions in expanded tax credits for green home improvements Democrats pushed through in August. With only 4% of American homes having made the switch to solar, Barnard points out that GoodLeap has plenty of room to grow.