When you think about NASCAR, you think power, speed, noise and lots of left turns. Now when you think about the sport’s Pocono Raceway, you’ll think about solar power.

The Lone Star State may be best known for its oil industry, but it also leads the nation in one renewable energy and has the potential to do a lot more.

Over in the Palmetto State, solar panel inquiries are at an all-time high, due to rising electricity costs, according to local solar installers. One man just installed a 14.1-kilowatt system, the largest residential solar energy system in the state.

The University of Michigan Solar Car Team recently won the 2010 American Solar Challenge—its third consecutive national title and sixth overall. DASolar.com is a proud sponsor of the University of Michigan Solar Car Team.

Georgia pecan grower Trey Pippin now harvests more than nuts—he’s also generating electricity from a one-acre solar farm on his property.

This past spring, 12 solar panels installed last year atop the Ypsilanti, Michigan, City Hall were wired to the building and began generating electricity. A group of volunteers from the Ypsilanti Food Co-operative and SolarYpsi installed the panels. They had won state grants to put solar panel on the Food Co-op, City Hall and the Co-op’s River Street Bakery.

A new lakefront, second home near Fort Worth looks like a rustic cabin, but will be powered by a very modern piece of equipment: a small wind turbine.

Maine is sweetening the pot to try to get homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient this summer. The state is offering a $1,000 cash bonus for home energy improvements completed by August 31, 2010, according to the Morning Sentinel. The new incentive is in addition to the $3,000 cash incentive that has been in effect since January to homeowners of all income levels, as well as up to $1,500 in federal tax credits.

Homeowners are starting to go solar in the Quad Cities area encompassing parts of Illinois and Iowa across the Mississippi River from each other.

Recently, Oregon announced a new solar program in which utilities will pay premium rates to people for generating solar power with small-scale systems.