Granholm said today she has joined the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts as a senior adviser on energy, and will visit states twice monthly to promote clean energy to create jobs and reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
The campaign is in addition to a teaching job she will begin in April at the University of California-Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. Granholm also is a paid contributor to NBC’s television show “Meet the Press.”Granholm said she’ll use Michigan as an example of how to develop an advanced battery industry for an emerging market for electric-powered vehicles. She said clean energy is “the mother of all markets,” and the U.S. must not fall behind China and Europe in producing renewable energy products.“Our goal here is to use the Michigan experience in creating energy jobs, to say to America that policy matters,” Granholm said in a Free Press telephone interview from Washington, D.C. “If the right national policy is in place, then jobs will be created across the country, and the United States will be more independent of foreign oil.”Granholm said the lack of a national manufacturing policy is a major factor in the decline of cities like Detroit, and that Michigan’s manufacturing know-how could help it gain more clean energy jobs — if the federal government helps.She said the aim of the Pew campaign is to generate public interest that will pressure Congress. She said the campaign has four goals:– By 2020, increase hybrid and electric vehicle sales to 25% of all new car sales in the U.S.– Double the number of sites that use “waste” heat from manufacturing to generate electric power.– 20% of energy produced in the U.S. to come from renewable sources by 2025.– Increase federal funding for clean energy research to $16 billion by 2015 — four times what is spent now.– Granholm will lead the project with former Republican U.S. Sen. John Warner of Virginia, who in 2009 joined the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate.Granholm said her first event will be in Arkansas next month at former President Bill Clinton’s presidential library to highlight clean energy products and programs.Granholm said a large majority of the public — and specifically Republicans — favor national policies that would reduce dependence on oil-based energy, and to create new jobs in clean energy industries, including more electric hybrid vehicles on the road.“This is an area where we can achieve bi-partisan support in Congress,” she said.As governor, Granholm made a priority of attracting renewable energy industries to Michigan. There are 17 new advanced battery plants planned or built, mainly linked to the automotive industry and with the benefit of large federal grants.Granholm said she visited China last week and was astonished at the extent of China’s renewable energy industries, which are supported in large measure by the government.She said China manufactures half of the world’s wind turbines and solar panels.She said a study shows that since 2004, the global energy market has grown by 630% — most of it in China — and that growth presents an unmatched market for industries and new jobs.“We can be like Ernie Harwell said and stand by like the house on the side of the road, or we can actually swing for the fences and get some of those jobs,” Granholm said.Granholm will continue living in the Lansing area with her husband, Dan Mulhern, until their son, Jack, completes middle school this spring. They plan to move near the University of Califonia-Berkeley, where Mulhern also will teach law and business courses.