Change is good. Right? Well, maybe not when you tack the word "climate" in front of it. with a changing climate and rising utility costs, the way we design and build our structures and communities is changing to keep up. And while that presents new challenges it also presents opportunities for those who are thinking about and rethinking the way we do things.  

Tom Neyhart is founder and CEO of PosiGen, a Louisiana-based company that designs and installs solar systems to homes in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

Tom founded the company in 2011, after growing frustrated with the disparate recovery process in post-Katrina New Orleans and wanting to do something to help those with limited means find better more affordable ways to rebuild and move forward. PosiGen provides that help by designing and installing solar-power systems, including solar hot water systems, with roofing and energy-efficiency services added to the mix. The systems are available for purchase or lease and customers have a two-way net meter installed on their homes so they are credited for power they generate.

In the decade since its founding, PosiGen has served more than 18-thousand customers, underscoring the needs for the services it provides.

Tom is a native of Ohio, who came to LSU in the early 1980s to study petroleum engineering and wrestle for the LSU Tigers. 

Ken Tipton is a planner, architect and the Managing Partner at Tipton Associates, a Baton Rouge firm that has worked on the design or renovation of some of Baton Rouge’s best-known structures, including the main library at Goodwood, the LSU Huey P. Long Field House renovation and the new Catholic High School Student Center.  

Ken has been leading Tipton since the early 1980s and has grown the firm from a local firm to one that works nationally in 30 states. He has also served as an adjunct faculty members at the award-winning LSU School of Architecture. Ken also has done master plans for towns, cities and university campuses as well as disaster recovery projects for LSU, LA Tech and East Baton Rouge Schools. 

Both PosiGen and Tipton & Associates are Louisiana-ambassador businesses, working beyond the borders of Louisiana, demonstrating our homegrown forward-thinking and adaptive smarts to the rest of the country.

Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Erick Otts at itsbatonrouge.la. 

And while you're looking over the horizon, check out how you can get from Baton Rouge to Mars.