BROOKLYN -- On this Earth Day, I'd like to pose a question.

Do you know where your energy comes from?

I'm not talking about the energy provider, like Con Edison, but the actual source of energy.

Is it a power plant? A Solar panel?

Don't worry if you don't know.

Most of us have no idea where our energy comes from.

Bob Sauchelli, however, does.

"I'm in direct relationship with my neighbor who's providing me with an energy service," said Sauchelli. "He's selling me green energy."

Sauchelli is the first customer on the Brooklyn Microgrid. He buys power directly from his neighbor's solar panels.

"I think we all need to recognize that we need to get off of fossil fuels" said Sauchelli. "I can buy green power from someplace Upstate, but the fact that I can buy it here really is exciting to me. The fact that I can buy it here on the block."

Like many green energy customers, Sauchelli was already paying his energy company a premium for a renewable energy source, like wind or solar. The problem is, he couldn't see the positive economic and environmental effects first hand.

Which is why Lawrence Orsini and LO3 energy created the Brooklyn Microgrid.

"Those green electrons are being made somewhere else. What you're buying is the global impact of those electrons," said Orsini. "What we're trying to do is make sure that you can actually buy the local impacts of those electrons, by bringing the systems to the communities."

In addition to helping keep money in the community, the microgrid could help supply power for local hospitals, fire departments, and grocery stores in the event of an emergency.

"Hurricane Sandy coming through and knocking out big parts of the grid in the last couple of years has really created a need."

Michael Guerra installed his solar panels long before he knew about Brooklyn Microgrid and was selling the excess energy back to Con Ed at a wholesale price.

Not only can he get a higher rate by selling it to his neighbors on Brooklyn Microgrid, but he gets to keep the green impacts in his neighborhood too.

"That would be great for the air quality around here. And heaven knows in New York City anything we can do to improve air quality would be a great thing for everybody," said Guerra.

Sauchelli says while green is good for the environment, he's happy to know he's also helping some green in his neighborhood too.

"Somebody who I'm buying Solar Energy from right here on the block, could go down and by their kid an ice cream cone at the corner."