Musician’s talk about going green all the time, but the realities of the music business involve things like smog-producing tour buses, landfill-clogging plastic packaging, etc. Ry Cuming, of the fingerpicked hit “Always Remember Me,” is doing his part by powering his home studio with solar panels, saving the planet one tune at a time. —Matt Blackett

“It takes a lot of power to run a studio and you can’t skimp,” says Cuming. “You need to know how much power you’re going to use and put in enough solar panels. This studio is also linked to the grid, so if more power needs to be drawn, it can be. The panels gather energy all day and, with the current setup, they power the studio and then feed back into the grid to supply excess electricity to the houses next door. Then at night, as power is used, the studio takes back from the grid and becomes as close to neutral as possible. When the studio isn’t being used, the power company reimburses us for the electricity that’s put back into the grid. It’s great to know that the energy is being created all day, right there above your head.”