The question of energy independence is being addressed with a vengeance in the great state of Texas. Barron's reports the Lone Star State is set to launch the largest solar energy initiative in the history of our nation. Already the state is one of the largest users of wind power in the United States.

This news is especially odd when you consider that Texas is the heart of Big Oil in our country; they're not exactly a green state, right? But they're all about the green, as in money.

Texas is also in the unique position of having its own power grid, muck like a separate nation!

Meanwhile, Clark was recently reading a state utility regulator's op-ed piece in a newspaper. The regulator was writing about how silly it is to use alternative energies when we have large amounts of coal.

But many people don't like coal because it's dirty and aggravates asthma. Nobody has yet come up with a sequestration technology to make it clean.

Natural gas has been used as a kind of alternative to coal. Yet natural gas should be used to run cars, not power plants. Just ask T. Boone Pickens. Running our cars with natural gas would allow us to stop relying on OPEC and all the foreign nations that would like to cause us harm.

For those who don't already know, Clark sees energy as a question of national security. Texas, however, is working toward energy independence because it's just plain smart for them.

Now the rest of the nation just needs to get in gear!