Over in Detroit they are switching all of their downtown street lights to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). I think this is really cool! No, not because I’m some sort of environment whack job (believe me, I’m not), but what a cool concept.

You can get the same exact lighting from a source that uses much less than half of the power of the current source. Forget about the better-earth ramifications (though they are vast), think about the ability to use that excess energy towards other purposes! Think about the ability to offer extremely low-cost electricity services to the rural areas of the country - or to distressed markets that could use a month of free electricity to bolster a local economy.

No, I’m not looking to have the government start giving away these free handouts, but I am definitely looking for private electric companies to give away some electricity instead of making a big profit.