When Eric Hart ended his eight-year military term, he felt like he was missing a sense of purpose. He tried a few corporate jobs, but he didn’t feel at home. He preferred working outside with his hands, and he wanted his job to serve something higher than a paycheck.

A few months after the 2002 launch of Arcadia Biosciences Inc. in Phoenix, CEO Eric Rey insisted the company move to California. Not to Silicon Valley, but to Davis.

Yolo County is doubly blessed. Within its boundaries lie some of the nation’s richest farmland; the open expanses also make it a prime place to develop solar energy.

Nowadays it’s not only hip for a business to go green, it’s the law. The state of California as well as some Capital Region jurisdictions have ordinances mandating recycling.

Like many of the hundreds of Rancho Cordova business people going about their daily routines, Kyle Lam wasn’t aware the city was looking for the wispy trails of toxic waste dumped long ago.

The city of Lincoln has embraced an alternative mode of transportation — the neighborhood electric vehicle — and so has Sacramento Valley Golf Carts, the city’s only sales and service center for golf carts and NEVs.

Since founding Sierra Energy Corp. in 2004, Mike Hart has led the charge to make it a force in the world of renewable energy. This year, with a working gasification system to demonstrate for new investors, Hart is stepping aside as CEO.

Inside a concrete warehouse a few miles past Sacramento International Airport, an 80-pound white sturgeon is hauled onto a table, sliced throat to tail and relieved of its egg-stuffed ovaries. Workers at Sterling Caviar LLC pack the meat on ice, ship the roe elsewhere and repeat the process.

Yuba County’s infrastructure was crumbling and its budget bleeding red ink when officials came up with a catching solution to their energy problems.

It’s been about 20 months since lawmakers and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger breathlessly announced a historic agreement called the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, an ambitious plan to overhaul the state’s antiquated water system. Much has changed since then, but much more is still on the way.