How To Power A City

We know Americans want to use solar and wind energy to power their homes and cities. What is stopping us? For some, nothing.
by
Melanie La Rosa
2024
73 mins

How To Power A City explores the front lines of the clean energy revolution. From zeitgeist solar adopters to hurricane survival and communities fighting to keep the lights on, How To Power A City showcases a diverse group of people leading the way to our nation’s clean energy future.

Synopsis

How To Power A City is a singular film in that it is the only documentary showcasing the leadership of women and people of color using renewable energy to support varied goals.

Exploring the benefits and challenges, the film looks at a wide range of projects from entire utilities and large cities, to community-led projects, to emergency solar systems for hurricane resilience, to what would have been America's first offshore wind farm.

Audiences will travel through solar and wind power projects from the urban sprawls of New York City, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Detroit/Highland Park to rural towns in mountainous Vermont and communities throughout Puerto Rico. Allowing viewers to see these projects firsthand, the film explores what it means to “power a city.” With themes of leadership, innovation, technology, and public participation, How To Power A City shows what energy transformation means in everyday situations.

Director Commentary

I began this film when I walked by a table on a Brooklyn sidewalk and was asked if I wanted to switch to wind power. I wanted to know more about how this would work, and found the closest wind farm - in Atlantic City. This started a journey that grew to include solar, many other cities, varied types of clean, renewable energy, and ultimately became this feature documentary.

It soon became clear that I was looking at more than just technology. What I saw in my camera was leadership. To be sure, technological innovation plays a large role, although each person portrayed used technology to address broader issues, from air pollution and resilience to mental health in areas hard-hit by hurricanes. “How To Power A City” evolved from a “renewable energy 101” type film into a deeper exploration of how renewable energy projects work and the motivation and personal involvement necessary to realize them. The tangible care each protagonist shows for their community reveals how human heart and drive are the core of technological progress.

How To Power A City is a one-of-a-kind, unprecedented view of the projects and people that embody the front lines of the clean energy revolution.

Features and Languages

Film Features

  • Closed Captioning
  • Subtitles

Film/Audio Languages

  • English
  • Spanish

Subtitle/Caption Languages

  • French
  • Spanish

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

Stll from How To Power A City shows a mural on a small building. Two brown-skin hands cup a seedling over a lush food garden with solar panels on a post. Nearby, a Ford factory churns thick, gray smoke from its tall smokestacks into the jewel-toned blue sky.
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Still from How To Power A City shows three wind turbines on their very tall, slender posts towering above low buildings on a hazy day.
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Still from How To Power A City shows the sun just rising over a city with low buildings and palm trees. It burns white-hot with a golden ring around it.
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Still from How To Power A City shows towers and skyscrapers of a downtown just beyond many lower buildings and tall, leafy trees.
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Still from How To Power A City shows workers in hard hats on a rooftop installing an array of solar panels on a cloudy day.
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