Texas is the latest state to look to solar power, as legislators have announced they want Texas to be in the forefront for alternative energy sources. Plans for new legislation include incentives and rebates that would provide affordable solar panels. The hope is these incentives would spur a boom similar to the one that started with wind power a decade ago.

“We estimated that Texas could put solar panels on the equivalent of 500,000 rooftops in Texas over the next 10 years,” said Luke Metzger of Environment Texas. “That would create about 22,000 jobs and reduce as much pollution as taking 4.3 billion cars off the road for a year.”

Austin Energy, the state capital’s electric utility, recently announced that it wants to build one of the largest solar projects of its kind in the world. The goal is to power as many as 5,000 homes and allow Austin Energy to generate 30 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.