In 1930, a 70-year-old Alabama native drilled an exploratory well in East Texas. Though his crew was relatively rag-tag and inexperienced—his driller was the only experienced oil man, and the rest were out-of-work farm hands—Columbus Marion (Dad) Joiner was a man with high aspirations for finding "black gold" in Rusk County.

Fast forward to Oct. 3, 1930, as 8,000 people—many skeptics—witnessed Joiner's team drill down over 3,500 feet on a 975-acre Texas farm. Unfortunately, it was much later that day before Joiner and his crew struck oil, much too late for the majority of the crowd that had already left. More unfortunate for Mr. Joiner were the oversold shares that thoroughly cemented the dreamer from Alabama in several lawsuits, before a wealthy Texas oil man bought his interests and saved Joiner from assured economic destruction.

Columbus Marion (Dad) Joiner left East Texas as a social and economic hero, but not a wealthy oil tycoon as he had probably hoped would be the case. The subsequent oil boom—considered one of the greatest economic achievements in U.S. history—was a large source of funding for WWII, and led to a significant post-war economic boom, making Mr. Joiner a man for the history books.

For more information on the East Texas Oil Boom, please check out the Depot Museum and East Texas Oil Museum Online.

Despite the fact that we live in the midst of what is quite possibly the fastest growing renewable energy market in the United States, Texans are still a bit perplexed and apprehensive of purchasing green energy. Case in point: 12,000 companies purchased renewable energy in 2006, 39 times more than in 2002. So who's really trumping who in the battle to be green? Why are consumers so afraid of green energy?

Check out the article in the Dallas Morning News for some myth-busting and eye-opening stats. Needless to say, the cost of renewable energy is still a myth to many consumers.