Gov. Steve Sisolak and three other governors joined Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy for a discussion about climate change. 

"You've been accelerating climate action in your states which is very exciting, providing hopefully a blueprint for federal policy," Granholm said.

Democratic Governors Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and John Bel Edwards of Louisiana talked about their state's work towards a renewable energy future. Some are investing in offshore wind power and ways to protect coastal communities from storm surges. New Mexico and Nevada are both investing in renewable energy sources like solar power.

"If you drive from Las Vegas to Carson City or Reno, there is a lot of wide open land, federal land that is ideal for solar," Sisolak, D-Nevada said. "It's got a lot of sun. Probably 300-plus days per year."

A goal is to use that energy and export it to other states. Sisolak says $2 billion is being invested to update transmission lines.

"We invested in solar transmission lines to make us part of the grid where we can export a lot of the solar that is being created and being captured," Sisolak said.

Sisolak recently visited UNLV where students are creating ways to transmit electricity more efficiently, without losing energy in the process. Other types of renewable energy sources in Nevada include wind and geothermal power.

"It's clean, it's effective, it's been kind of taken a second stance for awhile to the other areas, to wind or solar and whatnot but geothermal is something that's expanding when it's available," Sisolak said.

As electric cars become more common, Nevada is also investing $100 million to build EV charging stations throughout the state.

"If you want people to buy electric vehicles, you've got to have a charging station for them to go so that they can travel some type of a distance," Sisolak said.

Nevada has large deposits of lithium. One mine is already extracting the mineral from groundwater. Two other mines are going through the final permitting phases to start operations at Thacker Pass and Rhyolite Ridge.

"We're trying to advance the mining of lithium so that the entire country can benefit from the production of batteries and moving forward," Sisolak said.

President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda would provide hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy projects and tax credits. Some governors say that will speed up their projects and make them more effective.

"That means we finally have a federal policy that allows us to use federal initiatives, federal dollars, federal programs and federal grants," Lujan Grisham said. "That allows us to accelerate where we are."

Granholm says overhauling our energy system into a renewable system could improve the United States' ability to compete in a 21st century economy and prevent the worst of climate change. She says it could be the biggest engine for job growth in more than 10 years.

"It's your states that are going to see the jobs created and dollars invested in your states and we want to amplify and hire people and create whole industries in your state," Granholm said.

"This is an economic boon and get on the train because these are going to be the jobs not only of tomorrow but today," Cooper said.

Nevada has a goal to increase its renewable energy portfolio to 50 percent by 2030. The goal is to reach 100 percent by 2050.

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