Jennifer Granholm, what will the new US Secretary of Energy do?
Jennifer Granholm, the next Energy Minister in the Biden administration in the US, knows the electric car industry well. Here because
This week, other names have been revealed that will make up (or could) the administration of Joe Biden, the president-elect of the United States who will begin his term on January 20. If those presented at the end of November were all related to national security and foreign policy , this time the appointments have instead to do with a theme that is imagined to be central to Biden's government agenda: energy.
WHO ARE THE APPOINTMENTS
Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend and presidential candidate, has been named Secretary of Transportation. Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was chosen to lead domestic climate policies. Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has been named Secretary of Energy. Michael Reagan was appointed administrator of the EPA. Brenda Mallory will eventually coordinate the Environmental Quality Council.
These are fundamental charges for the implementation of Biden's climate plan of about 2 trillion dollars which provides – among other things – the elimination of American net emissions by 2050, investments in infrastructures and technologies for "clean" energy. but also incentives for electric mobility. Biden has made it clear he wants "a transition from the oil industry," but will ban the extraction of crude oil and gas only on federal land and not on private and state land.
WHO IS JENNIFER GRANHOLM
Of all, the most commented on was Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy.
Granholm is 61, was born in Canada but moved to the United States, California at the age of four. She is a member of the Democratic Party and currently teaches law at the Berkeley School of Law. In the past, she was first attorney general of Michigan (from 1999 to 2003) and then governor (from 2003 to 2011).
Granholm has already worked with Biden in 2009, during the Great Recession – she was governor of Michigan, he was vice president in the administration of Barack Obama -, on a bailout plan for the automobile industry: precisely the city of Detroit, Michigan , has long been one of the great world centers of the automotive sector but for decades it had been in a phase of demographic and economic decline, which then resulted in bankruptcy in 2013.
The Washington Post , citing an unnamed source close to the president-elect's team, wrote that Biden credits Granholm with helping to save the auto industry and its many employees. The New York Times describes her as a capable governor who spearheaded a state at a difficult time for two terms and who helped draft an automotive industry conversion plan to electric mobility.
ELECTRIC CARS
The transportation sector is the one that emits the most greenhouse gases in the United States. In his climate plan, Biden promised to increase the number of electric vehicles on American roads – there are around one million to date – through purchase incentives and the construction of 550,000 new public charging stations by 2030.
Given his background, Granholm could then favor the realization of these intentions. Among other things, in addition to being a well-known promoter of zero-emission mobility, Granholm is also attentive to the implications for national security and employment related to the electric car supply chain. For example, he argues that the United States risks being overtaken by other countries – China is already a leader in the production of lithium-ion batteries – if it does not invest in the development of alternative energy technologies.
He said there is already a demand in the world for "clean products" such as electric cars, which could result in the creation of new "well-paid" jobs for Americans. But if the US fails to meet this demand, consumers will turn elsewhere: to Europe or China.
WHAT IS THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REALLY FOR
Granholm knows the electric car industry well. However, he has no experience in a field that absorbs a large part – 75 percent – of the Energy Department's budget: nuclear power.
It is possible that with Biden the focus of the Department of Energy will shift at least partially towards the electrification of the vehicle fleet. The main task of the department, however, is the maintenance and protection of the American nuclear program, both civil and military.
Even nuclear energy – which does not produce carbon dioxide emissions – will however play a role in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Biden's climate plan speaks of promoting the development of modular nuclear reactors, which are smaller than conventional ones. and they are less complex to assemble; it is a technology, however, not yet established.
The challenge of the Biden administration will be precisely this: not only investing in research and development of technologies for clean energy – renewables, batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture, nuclear -, but also to ensure that all these technologies become affordable from an economic point of view. Some of these, such as those for wind and photovoltaics, already are; while others, such as green hydrogen, do not.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/jennifer-granholm-segretaria-energia-stati-uniti/ on Sun, 20 Dec 2020 07:00:34 +0000.