These 3 states have a head start on the Clean Power Plan. You'd never guess who they are.

This post was updated on Feb. 26, 2016.

Everyone in Colorado skis, all Oklahomans can rope a calf, and native New Jerseyans like me all talk like Pauly D did on Jersey Shore. Right? 

You may also stereotype when it comes to clean energy: Progressive states such as California are pumping out clean, renewable energy while others insist on clinging to old, dirty power plants. Well, it’s more complicated than that.

California, which has a market-based system for cutting carbon pollution, does lead the country. But a number of states, including notably Nevada, Texas and North Carolina, are also making great progress on clean energy – which may surprise some.

Their success is evidence that the supposed divide on clean power may be more about politics than economics and opportunities on the ground.

And that bodes well for the federal Clean Power Plan’s goal of reducing emissions from America’s power plants. Because if Texas is well-positioned to comply, why couldn’t other states do the same? 

New jobs, billions in investments - why not?

Texas, home of Big Oil, big hats, and JR Ewing, actually has more energy potential from resources sweeping over its prairies – in the form of wind and sunshine – than from those flowing underneath them. The state leads the nation in wind power and combined heat and power, and has the potential to generate more solar power than any other state.

If energy efficiency used by Austin Energy were extended across the state, it would reduce peak electricity growth by 40 percent, while keeping Texans as high-powered as ever.

Nevada, meanwhile, has also been smart about exploiting its huge solar energy potential. The state’s current renewable energy standard requires utilities to generate 25 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2025, with 6 percent coming from solar energy in 2016.

With more than 250 days of sunshine a year and abundant wind and geothermal energy potential, this goal is well within reach. Nevada’s solar advantage is one reason Tesla chose it as the location of its multi-billion dollar gigafactory to produce batteries for electric cars.

All eyes are now on Nevada to see if the state will continue to leverage – or squander – its tremendous solar market momentum.

Leading brands: We want clean energy policies

Finally, in North Carolina, tax credits and a modest renewable energy portfolio standard created opportunities to build a strong clean energy industry. The state’s burgeoning clean energy economy suffered a set-back in 2015 when state lawmakers chose not to extend the tax credit, but the market may speak louder than politicians.

North Carolina is one of the top four states in installed solar capacity and second behind California in large, utility-scale solar projects. Clean energy added nearly $5 billion to the state’s economy in 2014, and today provides nearly 23,000 jobs.

Google, Apple and Facebook have told lawmakers that state policies “made North Carolina particularly attractive to [their] businesses.” And retail giants Walmart and North Carolina-based Lowe’s Home Improvement said they want more choice and competition when it comes to energy.

Bottomline is that forward-looking leaders, stereotypes aside, follow good economics when they see it. All this will make a big difference when it comes to implementing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which gives each state a target and flexibility for cutting climate pollution.

As much as some leaders in the Lone Star State and elsewhere complain and sue over this rule, market forces have been at work to ensure they’re already on their way to meeting their goals under the plan.

That’s why we expect to get more clean energy surprises from states that don’t fit the stereotypical mold.