The Suburban Ripple Effect of Sustainable Cities

Last year, the town of Chelsea, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb of about 40,000 people, was looking to spend some of its federal stimulus money on a pretty big procurement for a community of its size: 60 LED streetlights. The technology, while widely used now in home and office buildings, has yet to appear (and save energy) on many city streets, and Chelsea was planning a pilot project.

"The difficulty for a small community like Chelsea is that our procurement officer is also the deputy city manger who’s also worried about contract negotiations and day-to-day operations," says Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash. "We don’t have the resources to go out and necessarily search high and low for the best prices, or to look for partnerships around us."