Street Lights, Unplugged

Solar streetlights are hyperlocal clean energy that can help US cities survive extreme weather events and break free of utility monopolies. We visit 3 cities where solar street lights do a fine job lighting the streets, but also do much more.  In a struggling rustbelt city, they're a beacon of hope for sustainable development. In a high end housing development, they attract buyers of luxury estates. In a working class town, they save the city money.  And in all locations, they're protecting the climate and helping remodel our energy system from a centralized for profit model, to a more dispersed, democratic, and resilient system.  We talk with a community activist, a real estate developer, and a street light electrician from these communities about their experiences with solar street lights.