Firing Line: Jennifer Granholm
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm spoke about the Biden administration’s plans on clean energy.
She spoke about the importance of strengthening America’s infrastructure. By expanding the capacity of the grid nationwide, they can add clean energy, and provide aid for states when in emergencies.
She also spoke about importance of transitioning America’s grid towards an electric future. She said it’s vital to add wires in order to build a national infrastructure.
“We have pieces of transmission across the country that have holes and gaps in it,” she said. She gave the example about the massive amount of wind energy in the windy states, such as Wyoming. However, the transmission is not ready to send the wind energy into cities that have high populations.
She also spoke about the many concerns people have on the impact that green energy will have on oil, gas, and coal jobs.
“Regardless of any policy, the globe is moving -- the planet. Demand for energy is all moving green.” She gave the example of how even during Trump’s administration, coal plants have been shutting down. However, despite this fact, the jobs for green energy have been growing.
“The number of jobs that are created in this clean energy space far outweigh the number of jobs that are in the fossil fuel industry,” she said.
Through the department of energy, research teams throughout the country will look for ways to remove carbon from natural gas, oil, and coal. They aim to have net zero emissions by 2050.
She also spoke about the concern of price rises in gas recently. As of now, it’s believed that gas is rising because of COVID-19 restrictions. She believed that there is a possibility for gas to continue to rise as Americans are vaccinated.
The department is working towards is to alleviate reliance of gas. As electric vehicles become more common place, there will be less need for gas. There will also be less maintenance one vehicles
“It saves you about $600 per year in maintenance because there are so many fewer parts,” she said.
