Jennifer Granholm and the Energy Department Can Usher in a Just Transition to Clean Energy. Here's How.
Update: On February 25, 2021, the Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy.
President-elect Joe Biden is poised to name Jennifer Granholm to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees key energy efficiency standards, research, and development. Granholm is a former two-term governor of Michigan and a champion of using a clean energy transition to spur economic growth.
During the Trump years, the department repeatedly tried to defund important clean energy research programs. The department also weakened energy efficiency standards for appliances, light bulbs, and other consumer products. These actions damaged our country’s ability to reduce carbon pollution, combat climate change, and help those most burdened by high energy bills.
The Biden administration and Granholm must make energy justice a focus of their policy agenda. Here are five top priorities they can start on right away:
- Roll out an energy efficiency program for low-wealth households. The Biden administration should ensure that energy production and transmission do not continue to harm historically disenfranchised communities, and the department should help low-wealth families transition to clean energy.
To start, Granholm should bring clean rooftop solar energy and energy efficiency technologies to low-wealth households in rural areas, tribal lands, and …
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