Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, right, talks with local officials and business leaders as Tennessee Sen. Bo Watson-R, looks on with Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Ray Boeman Tuesday at Green Spaces. Granholm urged support for clean energy, electric vehicles and energy independence.It would be nice to have an economy based on renewable goods, zero dependence on foreign oil and a fleet of electric cars transporting workers to and from their job, local officials agreed Tuesday.
But empty government coffers are little help in funding expensive green projects, which are generally unprofitable for private business to pursue without subsidies, attendees told former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a Chattanooga visit.
Granholm, a senior adviser to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ clean energy program, is working to ignite a grassroots effort by businesses and consumers to spur the creation of a national energy policy based on homegrown green energy and electric vehicles, she sold a group of manufacturers, energy executives and politicians.
While U.S. leaders debate the pros and cons of a national energy policy, countries like China plan to spend $17 billion by 2020 on electric vehicle infrastructure, which puts the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage, she said.
“What would be such a shame is if we substitute our reliance on foreign oil for a reliance on foreign batteries,” she said.