Secretary of Energy Discusses Clean Energy

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited Georgia Tech Wednesday for an event, co-sponsored by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, at The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. The stop in Atlanta is part of the administration’s effort to promote the value and promise of a national investment in clean energy.

“One key reason why we should focus on clean energy is to be able to focus on affordability,” she said. “A second reason is because of security. Whether it’s in supply chains or in actual fuel, we want to be able to generate the means to our own energy security, homegrown energy, and that’s why we should be going clean.

“A study from the International Finance Corporation estimates the clean energy sector is going to be worth $23 trillion globally by 2030,” she continued. “That’s a massive amount of money. That is the reason why we want to see economic opportunity here and jobs created because of clean energy.”

Tim Lieuwen, executive director of Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute, welcomed Secretary Granholm, as well as Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, and guests.

“It is a privilege for us to welcome this great group of energy leaders onto our campus,” Lieuwen said. “We are deeply appreciative of the partnerships that we have with our city, state government, and federal government. We are at the center of a very exciting developing ecosystem in the region. Having our secretary of energy here is a great opportunity to just quickly highlight Georgia Tech’s multidecade partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) across all the DOE mission spaces. Whether that’s batteries, electric vehicles, hydrogen, nuclear, or carbon capture, or policy, we have over 1,000 people on this campus working across this whole value chain engaging with our community and policymakers.”