John Najjar believes in locally-owned and operated businesses. When he buys produce for his Seaside Market in Encinitas, Calif., he buys from local growers. He’s owned the Seaside Market for 25 years and lives just a few blocks away. He walks to work most of the time.

“To me,” he said, “local means a sense of community.”

That’s why installing photovoltaic solar panels on his grocery store wasn’t just about saving energy and reducing expenses; it was also about inspiring his neighbors.

“We wanted our solar panels to be visible,” Najjar said. “It’s kind of like if you fix up your yard, maybe your neighbor will, too.”

The panels were mounted earlier this week on the front awning of the store, creating a visually stunning solar display.

“I’ve gotten a ton of customers asking questions,” Najjar said. “There’s definitely a buzz going on.”

Najjar’s Seaside Market received a grant from Cardiff 101 MainStreet that helped to offset the cost of the panels from Stellar Solar. That grant and some government incentives helped Najjar decide to take the plunge now, he said.

But this 3.8-kilowatt system is just one piece of a big program at the market to reduce energy consumption and lower costs. He said grocery stores tend to have outrageous electric bills because the cooling systems require so much energy.

“Keeping the lights on in your typical supermarket is about 20 percent of your use,” he said. “The rest is refrigeration. People don’t realize how expensive that is.”

He has recently installed LED lights in all of his coolers and replaced the neon sign outside with an LED one, reducing the sign’s energy use by 80 percent.

Solar is something he’s considered since he opened. But panels were always so expensive. Now that solar costs have dropped, he said he was eager to take advantage of the government grants and tax credits.

While he expects the solar awning outside of his store to reduce expenses, he looks forward to installing more solar panels on the roof over the next few years.

“I hope this will inspire more people to do it,” he said. “Solar is a realistic option now.”