The falling price of renewable energy systems, such as solar panels, bodes well for consumers, the environment and manufacturers, said Jay Whitacre, founder of a hybrid battery company in Lawrenceville. A professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, Whitacre founded Aquion Energy Inc., which makes and sells the Aqueous Hybrid Ion battery, an environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient energy storage system that was developed in Whitacre’s labs at CMU in 2008.