The federal government has awarded $5 million in stimulus funding for Sacramento-area alternative energy projects, including the state's first "solar highway," U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui announced Friday. The U.S. Department of Energy has set aside money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for projects to install a section of the state's first "solar highway" — a system of photovoltaic panels erected along a freeway — and to build facilities for sustainable biogas energy production from food and dairy animal waste. The latter also is intended to also reduce the smell and pollution around two Sacramento County dairy farms. The funding is part of $20.5 million in stimulus grants be

The final demolition of a former Sacramento police building has been halted again while concerns over an adjacent power station are worked out. Advantage Demolition was preparing to demonstrate Monday how the last two exterior walls could be pulled down safely next to transformers at a historic power station, now known as SMUD Station A, at Sixth and H streets. The station, whose origins date to 1895, supplies power to up to 40 percent of downtown Sacramento, said Sacramento Municipal Utility District spokesperson Dace Udris. Demolition of the building at Seventh and H streets began several months ago to make way for a 160-unit affordable housing project being built by the Sacramento Hou

An electric night parade will be held next weekend in Sacramento, reviving a 115-year-old spectacle copied by the Walt Disney Co. Plans are coming together to hold the city's first night parade since 1895. That parade lit up city streets during the Grand Electric Carnival, which heralded the arrival of electric power in Sacramento.  The Parade of Lights, planned for Saturday, Dec. 5, is expected to be short because organizing only began about a month ago. The parade, which will be held in Midtown, still has time to grow if more people get involved, said organizer Tassina Placencia, who owns Le Petit Paris, 1221 19th St., with her husband Ruben. With the continuing recession, Sacramento

Energy Parametrics & Communications, Inc., the global leader in environmental-friendly power generation solutions featuring true smart grid and power management technologies, this week held a construction groundbreaking ceremony at its new Sacramento, California power management data center. The new west coast 51,400 sq. ft. power data management center is located in the North Sacramento/Del Paso Heights area, 2040 Railroad Drive, Sacramento, California. “Our new Sacramento data managment center will showcase our company’s proven products and services to create safe and reliable green energy generation and power systems management. The site will also serve to train industry professionals