For today’s Metro Monday article, I’ll begin at the ending of my trip last week, via the “534 Express” to Malibu, California.

Last time, I started my route in Santa Monica.

However, this time, upon my return, I rode the 534 Express from Malibu, taking Interstate 10 to the end of the line at Washington Blvd. and Fairfax Ave.

That’s called efficiency!

On today’s brief and fun sojourn, I traveled 20 miles within the heart of metropolitan Los Angeles; all within a time span of 40 minutes.

In Los Angeles, that’s impressive. In fact, I don’t think it could have been faster in a car—indeed it probably wasn’t.

Below is an approximate map of my route:

View Untitled in a larger map

As a photojournalist and artist, I had a plan for today’s trip to Malibu (in an upcoming post), but decided that a bit of creative destruction was in order—therefore I wanted to end up somewhere, anywhere, and unplanned to photograph uncharted territory to capture fresh; so I rolled the dice and let the bus lead the way.

Snake eyes was my destiny.

At the end of my day, I ended up at the corner of Venice and Fairfax, with this view right in front of me:

If you’re not from Los Angeles, “LADWP” is the acronym for the infamous Los Angeles Department of Water and Power –the utility company that supplies Los Angeles proper with both our basic power and water.

Love them or hate them—without them, we couldn’t survive more than a day. Not the most original topic for Travelin’ Local but definitively one of life’s basic necessities.

On the other hand, in recent years, looking for alternative fuel sources has been a primary goal for LADWP. Although renewable energy only comprised 3% of LADWP’s power supply in 2005, as of July 1, 2008, it made up 8.5%. Hopefully it’s on track to have 20% of our power from alternative fuel sources by 2010; with the goal of 35% by 2020.

If you’re a resident of Los Angeles, you can express your commitment to the environment by signing up for LADWP’s Green Power for a Green LA Program, which allows you to purchase renewable energy.

For a small premium—currently, $.03 per kilowatt hour—you can support renewable energy, a cleaner environment, and a greener Los Angeles.

With the average LA electric usage at 549 kWh per month, the extra $16.47 to support alternative fuels is well within most household budgets.

Can you afford it? I can.

As a matter of fact, speaking of alternative fuels, the Metro just completed the largest solar installation in Los Angeles. It covers the entire rooftop of Metro’s Support Services Center, which is equivalent to 5 football fields. It’s a 1.2 megawatt solar array, made up of 6,720 individual solar panels.

The solar install is projected to cut the facility’s annual energy bill in half–from $1.1 million to $550,000.

Whether you now incorporate solar, wind, or other alternative power sources, just using the Metro alone, you can reduce your carbon footprint, if only for a day. (Also, don’t forget Bike to Work Week, starts today.)

If you need to go downtown and want to use the 10, consider using the Metro’s 534 Express. It’s undeniably the way to go. Travelin’ Local, having fun, and saving the environment are definitely not mutually exclusive.

What’s your way of getting around town when Travelin’ Local, when you want to get-away-from it all?