Photo: Michael Tyas 

2006 was an amazingly green year, and it looks as though 2007 has every chance of hitting even greener heights. In 2006, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the nation’s first environmental law committing California to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020. The governor set up an international program giving manufacturers incentives to lower carbon emissions. He also says he’ll oppose any attempt to drill for oil off California’s coast. (This did not escape national notice; check out this Washington Post article, “Schwarzenegger remakes himself as environmentalist.”)  It was that kind of a year, with President Bush saying in his January 2006 State of the Union speech that “America is addicted to oil” to fuel our transportation, and thereby our economy and society. Then in May, our president said “it’s worth trying to find out” if wind could provide 20% of the U.S. electricity requirements. (For more national developments, check out this blog post on “Seeking Alpha.”) Solar energy firms flourished in the Bay Area, including Berkeley’s Sun Light and Power, and so did alternative fuels; Chevron launched a giant hydrogen fuel cell at Santa Rita Jail that provides much of the energy for the facility – along with solar roof panels. And on and on. Who knows what 2007 will bring? But the outlook seems sunny, to say the least.