Cherry Street Energy is Applying Bright Thinking to Renewable Energy

By: Brent Hobson, Project Manager at Cherry Street Energy

 

Where do you see yourself in 14 years? How about 29? Weird timelines, I know, but I ask because 2035 and 2050 are fairly significant dates. Organizations across the globe are making commitments to transition to a brighter energy future that is more sustainable, resilient, and economical using these timelines.

The City of Atlanta committed to the bold vision of 100% renewable energy by 2035 and the state has proposed a goal of doing the same by 2050. Many of Georgia’s largest businesses and universities have announced similar commitments and timelines. 

Meeting these goals will be difficult, complex and expensive. That’s why I work with the brightest people who are hellbent on solving these impossible challenges. We designed Cherry Street Energy to overcome the key barriers for cities, businesses and institutions to make the transition to renewable energy. We make it simple, affordable, and scalable. 

So, what does Georgia’s transition to renewable energy look like? We believe that catalytic leaders will inspire others to take action. We work with institutional, business and community leaders to help them envision their energy futures and design the path to get there. We focus on powering Georgia’s largest energy users.

We designed an easy-to-adopt enterprise scale platform that removes the financial and operational barriers to future-ready energy systems. We take on the expenses and complexities while our customers pay only for the energy that is produced. We’re working to help guide our state’s transition toward reliable, renewable energy.

The City of Atlanta and Fulton County have been incredible partners and so far, we’ve powered recreation centers, fire stations and libraries all over the city. 

At Emory University, we’re building massive solar parking canopies and are planning for installations at their Midtown hospital facilities. 

Molson Coors featured Athens’ Terrapin Brewery in their annual sustainability report as a leader among their breweries, highlighting our 2019 solar installation at their facility.

But it’s more than solar. We’re working hand-in-hand with all of our partners to put their goals into action. The road to a brighter future is being paved in Georgia and the process is replicable. As more leaders begin this inevitable shift, it becomes easier to visualize that future. 

So, Georgia, where do we see ourselves in 14 to 29 years? Because I see us holding up our end of the bargain. I see us as leaders. I see us working together to create a future that the next generation deserves. I see us shining bright enough to power a whole state. 

Our transition to renewable energy requires the bright thinker in each of us.

Illuminarium is Democratizing Extraordinary Experiences in Atlanta

ATLANTA – May 24, 2021 – Illuminarium Experiences, a new breakthrough global experiential entertainment company, announced today that tickets for its first Illuminarium in Atlanta, opening July 1, 2021, are now on sale at Illuminarium.com. Tickets for WILD: A Safari Experience, a first-of-its-kind entertainment experience showcasing the beauty and splendor of Africa’s most exotic animals in their natural habitats, start at $30 for kids and $35 for adults, with premium packages available.

WILD will transport visitors to Africa through cinematic content shot by Radical Media, using custom camera arrays that provide a 240-degree native field of view (versus the average 210-degree human field of view), on location to showcase majestic animals in their native habitats across South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania. Complementing the exotic sights of a safari, visitors will also be immersed in its authentic sounds and scents, all without leaving Atlanta’s BeltLine.

Illuminarium’s immersive venues will transport millions of visitors to places they only dream of experiencing by placing them “inside” the narrative with techniques used in traditional motion picture production and virtual reality that facilitate the experience of real world, filmed content (like a safari) and authentic, re-created worlds in an immersive environment, all without wearable hardware. 

During the evening, Thursday-Saturday, Illuminarium will transform into a dynamic bar that features an immersive generative environment, allowing guests to have cocktails and curated eats surrounded by an ever-changing lush and stunning atmosphere. Through state-of-the-art projection and audio systems, guests will be invited to gather in a different far-flung and fantastic setting.

Visitors can also experience The Illuminarium Café, offering both indoor seating and an outdoor patio facing the BeltLine. The café will be an extension of the immersive experience content, serving authentic dishes, beer, and wine from the African continent, along with local southern favorites. The Illuminarium Shop will retail a wide variety of gifts inspired by the safari experience. Along with souvenirs like eco-friendly plush toys and items with a specific conservation give-back, the shop will carry unique items such as woven baskets, beaded jewelry, and hand-carved wooden decor sourced from artisan networks in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Both the café and shop are open to the public and do not require paid admission to the attraction.

Following Atlanta, Illuminarium will open in Las Vegas at AREA 15 in January 2022 and in Miami, at Mana in the Wynwood Arts District, in fall 2022. Other North American locations under consideration are New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and Austin.  

Illuminarium will design and operate each spectacle in an environmentally conscious manner that acknowledges its social impact. For WILD, Illuminarium partnered with global conservation organization, WildArk, to work collaboratively with local partners and communities to protect prioritized wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems around the world. Illuminarium will donate a portion of all ticket and merchandising revenue annually to WildArk. Through this strategic partnership, WildArk targets this funding, as well as additional donations made at Illuminarium, to aligned conservation partners working to protect prioritized wildlife and their habitats across Africa. Illuminarium will also provide opportunities for customers to become personally engaged with WildArk and other mission-based partners they bring to the experience.

 

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About Illuminarium Experiences

Illuminarium Experiences is a breakthrough, global experiential entertainment company created by worldwide leaders in cinematic and interactive content, architectural and theatrical design and venue operations. Illuminarium Experiences are immersive entertainment spectacles presented in custom-designed venues called “Illuminariums.” What museums are to art, cinemas to movies and concert halls to music, Illuminariums are to experiential entertainment. Illuminariums are reprogrammable immersive theaters that surround visitors in a sensory space of sight, sound and scale unlike any other, providing access to the most amazing, but typically out-of-reach, places, people and experiences to make our planet a more inspired, more empathetic and more connected place. Created by Alan Greenberg, Radical Media and Rockwell Group, and operated by Legends, Illuminarium Experiences brings together best-in-class partners in content creation, theatrical design, interactive technologies and venue operations. Learn more at Illuminarium.com.

 

Media Contact:

Julie Horn, DKC for Illuminarium

[email protected]

917-701-7136

Entrepreneur Profile: Kevin Mobolade, Swipe Credit

 

  • Entrepreneur Name: Kevin Mobolade 
  • Venture Name: Swipe Credit 
  • Impact Focus Area(s): Financial Inclusion 
  • Business Stage (Ideation, Startup, Early, Later, Mature): Early 
  • Year Venture Established: 2021 
  • Business Type: Enterprise Software as a Service 

 

Swipe Credit is a financial technology company that provides credit to more than 11 million underserved people in the US. We have made it easier to access financial services by using alternative data to increase access to credit for consumers and small businesses. Our innovative technology provides lenders with information based on actual consumer behavior. We identify customers who want lower payments and fees than existing services offer, then match them to the ideal financial product that matches their needs. 

According to Citigroup, closing the racial wealth wage gap 20 years ago might have provided an additional $2.7 trillion in income available for consumption and investment. Improving access to housing credit might have added an additional 770,000 homeowners over the last 20 years, with combined sales and expenditures adding another $218 billion to GDP over that time. 

Facilitating increased access to higher education (college, graduate, and vocational schools) for students might have bolstered lifetime incomes by $90 to $113 billion dollars.

Providing fair and equitable lending to entrepreneurs might have resulted in the creation of an additional $13 trillion in business revenue over the last 20 years. This could have been used for investments in labor, technology, capital equipment, and structures and 6.1 million jobs might have been created per year. 

At Swipe Credit, we’ve put together a team of engineers from Georgia Tech led by our CTO, who has a Ph.D. in computer engineering. We have developed an algorithmic mechanism and high-quality user onboarding and interfaces to combat this problem and unlock tens of billions of enterprise value in the process. 

As a first-generation American, my family and I personally have experienced the hardships involved in navigating the financial system and the pain that this brings in one’s day-to-day life. The American dream for most is to have a home, a car, and a job. In reality, most families struggle to achieve just those three things. Millions of people in our country don’t have access to credit. 

Swipe Credit’s mission is to support financially underserved individuals and families by providing them with access to financial resources. We do this by providing credit monitoring services, educational resources, and innovative products and services that help consumers achieve financial freedom without the added stress of credit scores. 

I leave with you with this quote from American radio speaker and author Earl Nightingale: ” We are at our very best, and we are happiest when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.” As a country, as a people, it is time that we provide the least of us with the tools needed to help them do the work they enjoy and build the future they envision. We are made stronger, more secure, and happier as a community. It is time we make that dream a reality. 

 

Interested in learning more, please visit: 

  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreditSwipe  
  • Website: https://www.exploreswipe.com/  
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swipe-credit