Sacramento is looking to use its abundant sunlight to cut down on energy costs and pollution by partnering with Solar City to install more than 8,000 solar panels throughout the city. Solar City is the nation’s leading provider of solar panels for homes, businesses and government organizations, according to its website, and it has taken on a number of projects in Sacramento in the past. This partnership, however, is slated to be the largest, according to the company. The systems are expected to produce 2.6 million kilowatt hours in the first year while the average U.S. home uses about 10,000 kilowatt hours in a year. The solar energy produced in one year will be enough to power 260 homes

A recent proposal to construct solar panels on a grassy mound at Sutter’s Landing Park has sparked opposition from environmental advocates concerned about the project’s impact on birds of prey who use the mound, formerly a landfill, as a feeding site. The City of Sacramento Parks Commission held a March 3 hearing on the proposal. Nonprofit group Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk used the hearing to express their concerns and lobby against the construction of solar panels in the park. “The landfill provides a rare protective, grassy environment where prey are abundant,” said Judith Lamare, president of Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk. “There are a lot of people who have spoken up with issues

Innovation and inspiration were the hallmarks of the Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase held Tuesday at Sacramento State’s University Union. Nearly 800 attendees packed the day long conference and expo to be inspired by leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs in clean tech speaking to the conference theme, “Building on Success: New Opportunities Ahead.” The latest innovations in solar, wind, biofuel, and energy-efficient technologies were on display in the exhibit hall and on Serna Plaza. The event, organized by SARTA’s CleanStart, and presented by SMUD and Sacramento State among other sponsors, brought together the region’s most influential leaders in renewable energy and environmental techno

The biggest solar power plant in the country will be built in West Sacramento, after a Spanish solar development company chose the city for its U.S. headquarters, the company confirmed Monday. West Sacramento and its port, where the plant will be located, beat Oakland to grab the new national headquarters of Otras Producciones de Energia Fotovoltaico. The company develops solar power plants and manufactures the tracking systems solar panels are mounted on. The company's subsidiary, OPDE U.S. Corp., officially began operating on March 1 in a roughly 70,000-square-foot building at 1430 Enterprise Blvd. in West Sacramento. But OPDE isn't coming here alone. It's bringing along two more subsi

Sacramento led the state in green job growth in 2008, with an increase in green jobs of 87% between 1995 and 2008, reports Many Shades of Green: Diversity and Distribution of California’s Green Jobs. This report was released by nonpartisan Next 10 and Collaborative Economics, and provides the most comprehensive green jobs accounting to date, systematically tracking the most recent available data on green companies, job type, location and growth across every sector and region of California. There are other positive indicators in the Sacramento region that we are on our way to becoming the clean tech capital of the state. In its annual CleanStart Progress report, SARTA identified over $130

U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui launched a collaboration Friday in an effort to make Sacramento the nation's clean-tech capital. The impetus: $127.5 million the U.S. Department of Energy awarded to Sacramento Municipal Utility District and local partners last fall to install a regional smart electric grid system. The grid collects electricity use information from generation to consumption and makes that available via the Internet. Local green-sector businesses, organizations, academics and government agencies now must team up to figure out how to use the federal funding as venture capital to stimulate economic growth through clean-tech initiatives and green energy projects, said Matsui, who repre

This Tuesday, clean tech players from around the region will gather to discuss the latest industry buzz at CleanStart’s PowerSurge networking mixer at McClellan Park. The event includes a tour of Technikon’s Renewable Energy Testing Center (RETC) as well as several other clean tech businesses located in McClellan Park. Featured speakers include Robert Weisenmiller,  who was recently appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger as one of the five commissioners for the California Energy Commission (CEC) and Kristine Mazzei, partner at Valley Vision, a nonprofit association working to secure the social, environmental and economic health of the Sacramento Region. "The Sacramento Region's clean techn

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