For the past few months, the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives have been struggling over competing legislation to create a Renewable Portfolio Standard for the state.

Renewable Portfolio Standards, or RPS, are government mandates which require a state’s energy producers to derive a certain amount of their power from renewable sources by a set deadline.

The Renew Michigan demonstration was organized by DeSilva and MSU student Adam Duke, with the help of several student and professional eco-conscious groups.

Duke, a general management junior, said the group wants Michigan lawmakers to commit to generate 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.

Twenty-seven other states have already passed RPS legislation. Duke said those states will have the edge in attracting green-collar entrepreneurs if Michigan doesn’t follow suit soon.

“We have the wind resources to power the entire Midwest, but if we don’t take advantage of those things while we have the opportunity, we’ll be stuck on the sidelines while everyone else is benefiting,” he said.

The House passed a bill package in April calling for the 10 percent increase. But when the bill was sent to the Senate, it was amended to require only 7 percent to come from “cleaner technologies,” which could include coal. The House rejected that version and policymakers have been unable to reach an agreement since.

For students looking to enter renewable energy fields, the motivation for attending the rally was simple. They want to be able to stay in Michigan after graduation, but the current market for green industries is almost nonexistent.

“I want to go somewhere where they’re going to be encouraging green jobs,” physiology senior Corrinne Thomas said.

Thomas said she hopes to work for a business that offers eco-conscious pharmaceuticals, but there is nothing to encourage such businesses in Michigan.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has encouraged the Legislature to enact a strong renewable portfolio for Michigan. Legislators met Thursday with the goal of approving a package and Granholm was expecting the legislation to be approved by the day’s end, but that did not happen.

Sen. Patricia Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, introduced the Senate energy bill. She said she has spent most of the past three weeks negotiating the package and hopes to reach an agreement by next week.

“We’re fairly close at this point, but we have some details,” she said. “There are a lot of technical and political issues involved in something this big, and we want to make sure that we do the best we can for the people of the state.”