Energy Secretary Granholm talks Michigan energy future, gas stoves as activists chant - Detroit Free Press

Energy Secretary Granholm talks Michigan energy future, gas stoves

Energy Secretary Granholm talks Michigan energy future, gas stoves as activists chant
Darcie Moran

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Michigan is a “hotbed” for clean energy technologies to be borne out and deployed while chants from climate activists served as a soundtrack to her appearance Monday at the Detroit Free Press “Breakfast Club” speaker series.

Granholm, the former Michigan governor, dived into energy issues and their ties to manufacturing, jobs, the environment and even the viral controversy over gas stoves Monday at the series emceed by Free Press columnist and host of CBS Detroit’s “Michigan Matters," Carol Cain.

The sold-out event at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham served as the return of the “Breakfast Club” series, which took a pandemic hiatus.

Members of the youth, climate-focused action group Climate Defiance demonstrated outside of the hotel and tried to make their way into the event. The group has called for the Biden administration to move the U.S. away from fossil fuels and stop greenlighting pipelines like the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Alaska LNG project.

Granholm’s comment about the state as a “hotbed” came when Cain asked about solar energy in the wintry state.

Granholm said solar is one clean energy solution — one that could still work in Michigan because it is based on light and not heat — but not the only solution. She also pointed to wind-based renewable energy in Michigan, how Ludington hosts one of the largest pumped storage hydroelectric facilities in the country, and the state’s hopes to increase its current number of nuclear plants.

She also said Michigan’s auto companies put the state in a position to lead in the creation of a virtual power plant, which could use electric vehicle batteries to support a downed power grid.

Of course, the auto companies in metro Detroit also raise a different question tied to energy: Will the switch to electric vehicles, or EVs, hurt jobs?

To this, Granholm acknowledged that the fewer assembly jobs needed for an EV are a worry, but pointed to projections on the future value of the clean energy sector and said if “we are smart about getting this full battery supply chain,” jobs will be added.

The goal is to create 1 million yearly for 10 years and Michigan is primed for it, she said. She did note “friendshoring,” the sharing of supply chain networks between allies, may be necessary, and pointed to the country running low on nickel. The country’s sole nickel mine in use is in the Upper Peninsula.

Addressing the escalation of extreme climate events and connected deaths, Granholm made reference to the protesters outside saying everyone should be impatient about the changes needed to slow the impacts on our environment.

“I would be out there marching with them in terms of, we've got to do this, we've got to do this,” Granholm said of the protesters and the need for action. “On the other hand, you cannot just flip a switch, because we have whole economies that have been built up around using fossil fuels. And so the question is, what does that transition look like?”

The goal is 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net zero by 2050, she said, and net zero means there will still be some fossil fuel usage, but decarbonized. People “just making a good living” in the oil industry need to transition, too, she said, and there could be opportunities to lean on the oil companies for geothermal possibilities.

Several members of the Climate Defiance group were checked in as hotel guests and used fake name tags to try to get into the event, said Aaron Velthoven, vice president of marketing and events for Michigan.com, the business arm of the Free Press. Those who made it outside the breakfast buffet could be seen banging on doors before being physically removed by security, and later a crowd of about 20 protesters banged on the window of the room where the breakfast was held before playing sirens and shouting chants such as “No MVP, no LNG, Granholm you are killing me,” on and off for the next hour.

One member of the group, Jesse Estrada White, 20, of Dexter, agreed that time, energy and effort are needed to address the climate crisis, but accused Granholm of making the situation worse and “stalling.”

“The time that she is talking about is well over the time that we are allotted,” Estrada White said outside the hotel.

Toward the end of the gathering, while Cain read audience questions, she selected one from a Detroit Public School student who asked whether fuel cell hydrogen vehicles will become more of a mainstay and affordable.

Granholm said "soon," that there are incentives to bring down the cost of the expensive infrastructure needed for that type of electric vehicle and that, with her current knowledge, she believes fuel cells will be the solution for the heavy truck industry and heavy transportation. Battery makers will have to battle it out, however.

Granholm also offered some advice for students like the one who submitted the question, with what Cain described as amazing penmanship, and those who might be interested in the field.

She told them to pursue STEM, go to STEM camps, and join robotics teams in order to tackle the biggest crisis, climate change. If not that, she suggested public policy.

“If you're looking for a field that has all of the things that will make you feel fulfilled as a human, because you will be solving the world's greatest problems, I would encourage you to look at clean energy. … Sometimes you don't know that you are in the middle of history when you’re in the middle of it. And right now, we are in the middle of this history, making change. And Michigan is the tip of the spear.“

Granholm also spoke about using a gas stove herself, after controversy arose regarding their safety earlier this year. For more on that, watch the live stream of the event below.

Photojournalist Audrey Richardson contributed to this report.