The 2010 Census commercials may be a bit over the top, but if the projections are right, Texas will likely count 24.5M residents, State Rep. Jim Keffer (District 60) told the crowd at the Greater Irving Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday. As the chairman of the Energy Resources Committee, Jim says he’s looking at the big picture: oil and gas is the nucleus of the state’s energy resources, but it’s not the only way to go. (Though he did say “if you cut us, we probably bleed oil and gas.”) Jeff says renewable energy sources will meet 20% of the state’s energy needs by 2025.

The state is allocating $5 billion to connect the West Texas wind farms to Central Texas markets and $100M for the Texas Clean Energy Project, which is designed to capture 90% of its carbon resulting in far lower emissions than at any existing fossil-fueled power plant. Keffer says the Texas economy can weather economic woes because of the state’s  oil and gas industry. He's looking at allsources of energy, though, because if the light doesn’t come on when the switch is flipped, it’s hard to get companies to move here.