It's common practice at this time of year to think of new year resolutions or predict what the year ahead will bring.

Although a bit cliché, I thought I'd join in with the soothsaying bit with some predictions of my own.

Environmental issues are continuing to gain in prominence and rarely a week goes by now without reporting on a new angle on the global warming debate.

This year will see the American presidential elections and I fully expect environmental issues to form a major plank of the election campaigns of both sides.

It will be interesting to see whether the United States gives more ground in terms of emissions quotas, especially now it is completely isolated on the world stage following the spectacular election result in Australia that removed the governing party that opposed Kyoto.

The global warming agenda is continuing to create some headaches over transport and energy policies.

How will we continue to increase mobility to the masses while at the same time reduce the emissions that transport creates?

We have seen all the political parties struggle to form policies that will adequately address congestion, curbing the desire for flying and capacity on the rail network.

As far as power stations are concerned, I think we can expect to see clean coal technology raise its head once again, just as nuclear did during 2007.

There are plans to replace the Kingsnorth Power Station in North Kent with a new coal-fired station and this is likely to be replicated elsewhere.

With the continuing rise in oil prices, expect to see more clean fuel technologies being trumpeted!

This year sees the Olympic Games staged in China for the first time.

With this honour will come the scrutiny of the world's media on many other aspects of life in China and its environmental record will almost certainly be examined.

It will be particularly interesting to see whether Beijing has learned from the mistakes made at Athens and built on the success of Sydney in this regard.

Last year, I hoped that Teville Gate in Worthing would finally be redeveloped.

Unfortunately, this hit a few snags, but let's hope that 2008 is the year!

This could be the catalyst for many other developments in the town centre, changing how the town is then viewed by not only the residents but visitors, too.

The introduction of wheeled bins last year had a huge impact on how we manage our rubbish and recycling.

The new scheme appears to be fulfilling its aims of reducing the amount of rubbish produced, increasing recycling and keeping the streets cleaner of debris.

With phases two and three of the scheme due to roll out this year, in April and September respectively, Adur and Worthing should really see the benefits on a much wider scale.

The opening of a new materials recovery facility in Ford later this year should enable West Sussex authorities to increase their recycling tonnages considerably.