Texas envisioned as solar power leader

Texas envisioned as solar power leader News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Science and Medicine Health: "The sun could rival the wind as a clean power source in Texas' near future, if the state gets serious about tapping the potential of pollution-free solar energy.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN
Homebuilder Jim Sargent's Waxahachie company is building solar-equipped houses that both conserve energy and generate it. Some of the homes end up taking no net energy from the state's electric grid, he said. That's the belief, at least, of some builders, equipment manufacturers and energy experts.
Texas already leads the nation in producing wind power, and given its sunny climate, scientists say it has the capacity to dominate solar, too.
To help make that happen, solar advocates are urging the Texas Public Utility Commission to set solar usage requirements for electric retailers.
'We actually are a perfect environment, economically and thermodynamically, as a raw resource for solar, but it hasn't taken off,' said Michael E. Webber, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas."