In what is becoming a tradition around here this is my new years wrap up/look forward post. First the wrap up, last year around this time I made 6 predictions for 2007, lets see how close I came.

My predictions were:

• Wind power will be on fire in 2007. Look for triple digit growth in the wind industry and all sectors related to the wind industry.
• Global warming will start to be taken seriously, particularly by presidential candidates. Look for at least one major candidate to make it there main platform
• Look for major consolidation in the solar panel industry, perhaps even look to semiconductor companies to take over major solar operations.
• The plug in hybrid along with bio-fuel ready cars will start to become more popular
• Look for oil to hit 90+ dollars a barrel this summer.
• The Sietch will add at least 5 new members, and look to get over 1000 visitors a day by the end of the year.

Lets see how I did.

Wind power was certainly on fire this year, with some places seeing massive growth in installed capacity. Not triple digit growth, but still very impressive.

Global warming was one of the largest topics this year. With Al Gore and the IPCC getting a Nobel peace prize for their work in exposing the dangers of climate change to the world, and with every major democratic candidate (including my favorite) proposing at least some plan to tackle this problem. I would say that 2007 became the year that people woke up, and started to realize that things are getting bad, and that they need to change.

The solar industry got a huge boost this year with companies producing solar panels cheaper than coal, with silicon valley getting into solar in a big way.

Biofuels took off in 2007, in sort of a bad way. Driven mostly by large agra-business and midwestern senators looking to bring money to their states, biofuels were produced in largely unsustainable ways, and lamentably many tropical nations have begun cutting down rain forests to produce palm oil. Plug-in cars also got a lot of press, again I was only half right as no major companies released a plug-in model in 2007.

Not only did oil hit over 90 dollars a barrel, it almost topped 100!

The Sietch did in fact add several new members, several new guest bloggers, and opened up MySietch, a place where people can set up their own blogs and add their voice to the conversation. We currently get about 4000 visitors a day! Thanks to everyone who made this our best year yet!

So I would say I got about 5 out of 6 (if you count that I didn’t get all of them completely) not bad for someone with little psychic skill, or a time machine.

So what about 2008, what will this year bring.

My Predictions for 2008:

2007 was the year that people started to think seriously about climate change, look for 2008 to be the year that world governments start to pass serious carbon laws. Look for cap and trade, carbon taxation, and global treaties dealing with emissions reduction.

A Democratic will win the presidency.

Feedback loops and continued warming will make 2008 the worst year for arctic and antarctic melting on record.

Continued droughts and water shortages will bring dramatic lifestyle changes to people in the south west and south east.

At least one major car company will produce an electric or plug-in hybrid model.

Look for oil to top 120 dollars a barrel at least once in 2008.

2008 will be the year of the green consumer, look for a flood of eco-friendly products and services to take over the market. The second part of this prediction is that we will see massive greenwashing campaigns by companies hoping to cash in on this trend without really doing much in the way of making their products greener.

I am going to once again predict that renewable energy will explode in 2008, look for 30-50% growth in the solar and wind industry world wide.

Cape Wind will be approved and perhaps even start construction in 2008.

Those are my predictions of 2008, we will have to wait till 2009 to see how many I got right this time. I wish you all a happy new year and hope that 2008 brings you peace, love and happiness. Lets hope that we can all make 2008 the year that we get serious about protecting the environment for ourselves and our future generations. Happy New Year!