Granholm Travels to Tout Alternative Energy Plan BRIGHTON, MI (Michigan Radio) - Governor Jennifer Granholm is traveling around the state to promote alternative energy as the key to Michigan's economic future.

Granholm told a crowd at a Brighton bagel shop that Michigan can create jobs if it adopts a renewable portfolio standard or R-P-S. It would require Michigan to get at least ten percent of its future energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

"And it's not just because it's good for the planet (but it is), but it's all about jobs," Granholm said, "The National Renewable Energy Lab has said that there will be twenty million jobs created in renewable and alternative energy in the next couple of decades."


The R-P-S is in a package of energy related bills that would make it easier for energy companies to build new plants in Michigan. It would also make it more difficult for consumers to change their electricity provider.

Jenifer Keliikuli (Kelly-EE-coolie) is the marketing vice president of The Green Panel, a solar technology company in Brighton. She says the governor's renewable energy plan would help solar power companies design and build more in Michigan.

"And we're also hoping we can get the distribution arm of that here because right now the distribution is actually all out of state," Kelliikuli said, "And it's throughout the United States but none of it is happening in Michigan."

The RPS has drawn criticism from skeptics who believe the price of electricity will rise if utility companies are forced to pursue renewable energy.
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