One of the businesses that received a Beautify Lincoln makeover was TRiP, recently named Best Neighborhood Music Venue of 2013 by the LA Weekly. In addition to the huge splash of color that Evan’s mural added to TRiP’s entryway, TRiP’s owner had a vision to immerse a tree adjacent to his business with light.

To help him out, we installed twelve 35-watt solar panels recycled from a previous project that charge a gel battery throughout the day, and light up LED flood lights aimed at the tree at night. Here’s how it works: the solar panels, lights, and battery are hooked up to a charge controller. During the day, the panels charge up the battery, and when the sun goes down, a timer sequence is initiated. As soon as the timer winds down, the tree is lit up by the battery powered LED lights, and these lights stay on for about 6 hours throughout the night.

TRiP tree lit up by solar powered lighting

Between art murals, solar powered lights, live music, and a great beer selection, there’s no reason not to include TRiP on your next weekend outing.

Shop Local… for Energy

You have heard the term “buy local”, but we’re not talking about vegetables this time.Like locally grown carrots, solar energy produced by your neighbor is far more efficient when you cut out the economic and environmental costs of transportation.

More than 10% of the electricity generated at a centralized power plant is lost by the time it reaches your home.This means you are being billed for 10% more energy than you are actually consuming.Solar energy fed into the local grid not only addresses the issue of wasted energy due to transport, but also provides residents with an incentive to go solar when they receive payment for this market good through a program called Net Energy Metering (NEM).

Sounds like a win-win.Here’s the problem – utility companies don’t want to pay the fair market value of energy to those creating it on top of their roofs.Currently, producers of dirty energy receive greater compensation than those individuals creating solar power at home.The price paid for electricity should be consistent, regardless of how or by whom it was generated.When a home equipped with solar pa

nels yields more energy than it consumes, these kilowatts are pushed back into the grid and distributed locally.However, the extra 10% saved thanks to decentralized distribution is not factored into NEM pricing.Meanwhile, utilities make out like bandits off the free solar energy returned to the grid by those who have invested personal dollars in sun power.

NEM benefits everyone – customers, utility companies, and the environment.We should all be championing the efficient production of electricity by fairly rewarding those who create it locally.What can be done?An independent review determining the hidden value of local power generation is an important first step.Let your state representatives know free market energy rate start at home!