Patent ID: 8829799

Claim:
A lighting unit for a distributed energy storage solution, the lighting unit comprising: a housing; a battery associated with the housing and configured to be charged from an external power supply, wherein the external power supply has access to an electrical grid connection; a light source associated with the housing and configured to emit light when powered by an amount of power from the external power supply and the battery; and a timing facility associated with the housing, the lighting unit, and a controller, the timing facility being configured to provide information to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to: select, based on the information received from the timing facility, a first portion of the amount of power to be supplied to the light source from the external power supply; select, based on the information received from the timing facility, a second portion of the amount of power to be supplied to the light source from the battery; and supply the amount of power to the light source by supplying the first portion of the amount of power from the external power supply and the second portion of the amount of power from the battery to cause the light source to emit light at an intensity level based on at least one of the received information from the timing facility or a reduction in power demand from the external power supply during a period of peak usage, and wherein the timing facility stores times when selection of the first portion of the amount power and the second portion of the amount of power is disabled.