It's tough to narrow down this year's crop of climate news to just ten big stories. Will Sarni takes a look at the top trends.

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1. The "Green Dream Team?"

This is not meant to be political. However, in the absence of any leadership at the federal level over the last eight years, it is refreshing to see that we may be assembling a team ready to address the complexities of market based solutions to climate change.

Fortunately, the mantra of "drill baby drill" has given way to a focus on a commitment to renewables and a cap-and-trade program for carbon. In the past few days the Obama team has nominated key staff who, as tagged by the League of Conservation Voters, is the "Green Dream Team." This team is committed to tackling climate change and energy innovation. Carol Browner is back as the White House advisor to coordinate energy and environmental policy (go figure, coordination!), Steven Chu to run the Department of Energy (a physicist who shared a Nobel Prize in 1997 and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lisa Jackson to be the head of the USEPA (who lead the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and Nancy Sutley to lead the White House Council on Environmental Policy.

Nominees who have relevant experience and innovative ideas on how to build a forward-thinking energy and climate policy! At the least we can be hopeful that we will move towards greater energy security and a low carbon future with this team.

2. T. Boone Pickens + Al Gore = Strange Bedfellows

Even I couldn't have dreamed this one up.

Politically at opposite ends of the spectrum but whom both get the dire need for a strategic and secure U.S. energy policy. The Pickens Plan emerged as a strong voice for wind power and the use of natural gas as a transitional transportation fuel. The goal is to build wind energy facilities that will produce 20% of our energy needs and to use U.S. natural gas reserves, resulting in replacing approximately one of U.S. foreign oil imports within ten years.

Mr. Gore is advocating producing 100% of U.S. electricity from zero-emission sources on the We Campaign's website,www.wecansolveit.org.

For the first time we are having a very public debate on U.S. energy policy and climate change coming from usual and unusual voices.

3. Project Better Place: Finally, Real Innovation in Transportation

Innovation in the automobile sector is coming from Silicon Valley and not Detroit. Detroit is playing catch-up despite some well publicized products such as the Chevy Volt.

One of the most innovative and successful models is Project Better Place (PBP). PBP is led by Shai Agassi, 39, the former software entrepreneur. The innovative business model will sell "electric car transportation" based on the model of the cellphone. Purchasers get a subsidized car and pay a monthly fee for expected mileage.

In March of this past year PBP signed a letter of intent with DONG Energy to bring mass market vehicles to Denmark in 2011. The Danish government will provide tax incentives for the all electric vehicles and PBP Denmark will construct an electric grid across the country. Nissan will build the cars. This follows the announcement in January of this year of a joint venture between PBP and Nissan as the initial test location to roll out the electric car infrastructure and vehicles.

In November BPB, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose joined the project to turn the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle Capital of the US." The PBP goal is to create 250,000 charging ports, 200 battery-exchange stations and a control center to service Bay Area electric car drivers for an estimated cost of $1 billion.

In the current climate of bailouts this seems like a bargain.

4. Climate Change and the Endangered Species Act

Unfortunately we are seeing the impact of climate change on biodiversity. This year the polar bear was listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in May of this year. This is the first species to be added to the list due to global warming.

Going forward, the ESA will likely be used as a tool to protect species and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change.

5. The "Death of Ethanol" - and Birth of Algae

This year saw the collapse of the US corn based ethanol industry. The approximately $32 Billion industry was battered by studies that questioned their "green credentials." US subsidies will ensure that corn based ethanol doesn’t disappear but clearly the industry faces significant challenges.

In contrast this year saw increasing progress with algae biofuels. Companies such as: GreenFuel Technologies; Solazyme; Blue Marble Energy; Inventure Chemical; Solena; Live Fuels; Solix Biofuels; Aurora Biofuels; Aquaflow; Petro Sun; Bodega Algae; and Seambiotic were all making progress in advancing their technologies.

6. Solar as Baseload: Once Again, California Takes the Lead

California signed a solar thermal contract with Southern California Edison for the purchase of power from the 105-megawatt Gaskell Sun Tower project in Kern County, located in the southern part of the Central Valley.

The Gaskell project will be the second-largest solar thermal plant, after Florida Power & Light’s 310-megawatt Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert. Scheduled to come on line in 2012, the plant has the option of expanding to 245 megawatts.

The plant is being developed by eSolar Inc., Idealab, and Google.org. Southern California Edison is the closest to meeting California’s 2010 target of 20% renewables with contracts signed through 2012 for about 17%.

7. The State of New York versus the utility sector. What Climate Risk?

In August Xcel Energy agreed to disclose their risk to climate change to their investors in response to a legal suit previously filed by the NY State attorney general Andrew Cuomo.

Mr. Cuomo subpoenaed Xcel and four other companies in September 2007 to determine if their plans to build coal-fired power plants posed risks not disclosed to investors such as lawsuits or higher costs to comply with possible regulations restricting carbon emissions. The attorney general is apparently still negotiating with the four other companies, AES, Dominion, Dynegy, and Peabody Energy.

We will see increasing pressure on utilities to disclose the potential risks from climate change to their investors as state and federal climate regulations move closer to reality.

8. Poznan...Perhaps Progress?

Historically, I have never viewed climate negotiations as a top story. The reason is that the only real progress we have seen in the US has come from business and states. When a real agreement is reached then it will be a top story.

However, the recent negotiations at Poznan give me reason to hope that we are getting closer to a real global agreement. The U.N. climate talks apparently achieved some modest goals with a "renewed sense of purpose and momentum" (see Top Story #1).

Some progress consists of credit for saving forests and opening up a long-planned fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

9. RGGI's Auctions Emission Credits

Utilities in the northeast bid $38.5 million for the right to emit 12.5 million tons of CO2, generating revenue that the states will be able to put toward climate change action. When I first got a glimpse of RGGI was skeptical but I am now convinced, States and Canadian provinces can come together and develop a regulatory framework. Real progress in regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

10. TARP (My Personal Favorite)

So the investment and renewable energy tax credits are on the verge of not passing in this congress and along comes the "Wall Street Bailout." This makes the Pickens and Gore "initiatives" look predictable.

So the legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush had a $17 billion energy tax provision. TARP extends the 30% federal investment tax credit for both residential and commercial solar, small wind, ground-coupled heat pumps installations from 4 - 8 years. It also eliminates the $2,000 monetary cap for residential solar electric installations, an investment tax credit for water energy applications (tidal, wave, and ocean currents and thermal) and combined heat and power. The federal production tax credit was also extended for biomass power, geothermal and wind energy as well.

Other memorable stories for 2008:

Green IT and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI SMART 2020 report). The GeSI report outlines that the application of IT could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2020 and deliver energy savings of over $800 billion.

U.S. EPA and coal. A U.S. EPA board ruled in November that the EPA had no basis to refuse to regulate the greenhouse gases emitted by new coal plants. This essentially made it impossible for the EPA to certify any new coal plant and "freezing" development.

EPRI and Detroit. General Motors and EPRI in July announced a partnership to promote plug-in hybrids.

SMARTGRID. Xcel Energy will begin rebuilding the basic infrastructure of the Boulder, Colorado power grid at an estimated cost of $100 million. The smart grid system will enable residents to sell the company extra power stored in the batteries of hybrid vehicles, calculate the exact carbon footprint of their homes and hopefully reduce the cost of power over time.

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Will Sarni is CEO of sustainability consulting firm DOMANI. He is also SLM's expert-in-residence on climate strategy and the host of Climate Management Weekly.