How To Power A City is an independent feature documentary showing stories from the front lines of the clean energy revolution.
From zeitgeist clean energy projects and early solar adopters to investors trying to bolster local economies with clean energy, to environmental justice communities fighting to keep the lights on, How To Power A City showcases the people leading the way to our nation’s clean energy future.
What began as a look at solar and wind power in the large urban sprawls of New York City, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Detroit/Highland Park soon expanded to include towns in mountainous Vermont and communities throughout Puerto Rico. This allows the film to subtly explore what it means to be a city and the malleability of developed environments, no matter the size.
How To Power A City is a behind-the-scenes exploration of leadership, innovation, technology, public participation, and what energy transformation looks like in everyday situations.
New York
When residents of Astoria, Queens shut down a coal-burning power plant that has been polluting their air for decades, their City Councilmember continues this community-wide fight all the way through to passing bill to get rid of fossil fuel power plants completely and to turn Riker’s Island into a solar farm when the prison closes.
Highland Park — Detroit
When the utility repossesses over 1,000 streetlights in Highland Park, MI, residents create solar-power streetlights, energy democracy trainings, and a local movement that ultimately influences state energy policy.
VERMONT
How are utilities being part of the solution? A CEO leads Vermont’s largest utility to become renowned nationally for their use of solar and wind power, innovations with batteries, distributed generation, and passing on the benefits to customers.
PUERTO RICO
Two stories in Puerto Rico follow energy transformation that began in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and continues on to some of the world’s most ambitious clean energy goals. In Salinas, a lawyer brings affordable community solar to her hometown. In Isabela, a family installs hundreds of rooftop solar systems, then launches a solar training program focused on recruiting women.
LAS VEGAS
Always going big, Las Vegas becomes the first large city in the United States to be 100% renewable energy for its city services.
ATLANTIC CITY
In New Jersey, a 100% renewable energy-fueled industrial site inspires a group of fishermen to try to build the first offshore wind farm in the United States.
Featured in Film
PEOPLE
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