It’s encouraging to read about the comeback of the electric car after it was nearly crushed by the oil industry in California.  I’m talking about the unfortunate case of the GM EV1 of the 1990s.

If you have been following my posts, you are aware of the promising cars that are now being manufactured by Tesla, Toyota and Aptera.  I’m very excited about this issue, since it will be a step in the right direction to lessen the emission of greenhouse gases.

According to Triplepundit, Spain aims to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2014.  This great news was announced by Spain’s Minister of Industry, Business and Tourism, Miguel Sebastian, on Tuesday.    It clearly shows how serious the Zapatero government is regarding saving energy and boosting energy efficiency in Spain.

The Plan, which Spain’s Council of Ministers are expected to approve August 1, will be implemented this year and carry on through 2011. It’s estimated that Spain will save between 5.8 and 6.4 million tons of oil over the three-year period as a result of this energy reduction plan.

“The electric vehicle is the future and the engine of an industrial revolution,” Sebastian told members of the National Industry Commission. Higher oil prices and growing use and intensity of fossil fuel cost Spain some 17 billion euros last year, according to the Minister.

Spain’s legislators are currently studying legislation to provide incentives which will increase the use of public transportation, promote substitution of incandescent light bulbs with lower consumption bulbs, and provide mobile phone coverage in subways. Also among the measures being considered, are reducing fuel exports by 11 percent and reducing speed limits in cities.

If only our government officials would pay attention to the green provisions being taken by responsible legislators in other countries.  Panama is in dire need to adopt these energy conservation measures with a deep sense of urgency.

Texas is determined to be the leading state in the Union harnessing wind energy.  Texas officials gave the go-ahead Thursday to the nation’s largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring pollution-free energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas.

Texas already generates about 5,000 megawatts of wind power, more than any other state.  Most of Texas’ wind-energy production is in petroleum-producing West Texas, where nearly 4,000 wind turbines tower over oil pump jacks and capture the breeze that blows across the flat and largely barren landscape.  This wind-abundant zone is known as the “wind corridor” which extends from the Canadian border to West Texas.

The enormous Lone Star state is already the nation’s leader in wind power, but when said plan is fully implemented (pending final approval), it’ll produce more wind energy than the next closest 14 states combined.  Granted, customers will be paying more ($4 per month is the current estimate) for all this clean energy, but environmentalists assert that the cost is minor when looking at just how much this will help out Mother Earth.

“People think about oil wells and football in Texas, but in 10 years they’ll look back and say this was a brilliant thing to do,” added Patrick Woodson, vice president of E.On Climate & Renewables North America, which has about 1,200 megawatts of wind projects already in use or on the drawing board in Texas.

Supporters called the move a critical expansion of the “renewable energy superhighway,” predicting it will spur wind energy projects, create jobs, reduce energy costs and reduce pollution.

The new plan would not directly build a slew of new turbines, but would add transmission lines capable of moving about 18,000 megawatts. One expert said that is enough to power more than 4 million Texas homes.

As stated in my recent post “Exploting a ‘Wind Corridor’ in America,” one of wind’s most surprising backers is legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens.

Pickens’ company, Mesa Power, is purchasing hundreds of wind turbines to eventually cover 400,000 acres near Pampa, Texas, and generate enough power for more than 1.3 million homes. “We are making Pampa the wind capital of the world,” Pickens said last May.

Pickens said it would be the world’s largest wind farm at a cost that could grow to $12 billion before its scheduled completion in 2014.

There is no doubt that Texas officials are correctly thinking of a future without significant air pollution and no foreign oil dependency.  It’s only responsible to switch to clean renewable energy resources such as wind, waves, bio fuels, solar, thermal and others.  When that happens the OPEP countries can keep their sticky oil.  Way to go Texas!