Building contractor C.W. Brown Inc. [1], based in Thornwood, this week became the first company to take advantage of New York's new "net metering" law. Company officials flipped the switch Monday on their photovoltaic cells to start using solar power in their building, reports the Journal News [2].

Net metering allows customers to sell excess energy they produce back into the grid.Net metering allows for excess energy produced by solar panels, wind turbines and farm waste to be sold back to the local utility if it isn't used. Sixty-eight solar panels installed at C.W. Brown's headquarters by Mercury Solar Systems [3] will allow for an estimated $2,500 to $3,000 savings a year. Whatever energy the company produces and doesn't use, primarily on weekends, will be sold back to Con Ed [4] and used for other customers.

Gov. David Paterson signed the law [5] allowing for commercial net metering last Friday. The state had already allowed for residential net metering, and with the push from environmental groups and alternative energy advocates, made it available for commercial use. The state hopes to produce 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.