Attorney and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., called for the entire nation to be linked on one electricity grid in a fiery speech in downtown Sacramento on Friday. Kennedy was the keynote speaker for “Greenwise,” Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s environmental initiative. Since he started his initiative in June, Johnson has hosted talks with speakers including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. About 300 people attended Kennedy’s speech, which was held at the Hyatt Regency at 12th and L streets. The country’s current energy system is irrational, Kennedy said, noting there are 50 different public utilities comm

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 city’s emerging climate change program is likely to be developed in several stages, starting with an analysis of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a city official. Tom Pace, long-range planning manager for the city, explained that the city is looking at a five-step model suggested by a group of local governments that focuses on climate change. The group, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), suggests five stages for a municipal program to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Sacramento is a member of ICLEI, which includes more than 1,000 cities across the globe. If the city obtains sufficient funding for the “climate action plan,” the effort