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PERRYSBURG -- Vice President Joe Biden spent much of his day in Northwest Ohio Tuesday touring a new solar panel manufacturing plant in Perrysburg.  While there, he announced an new effort to help laid off auto workers find new jobs.

The focal point of Biden's visit, however, was the new Willard and Kelsey solar panel plant in the Wood County suburb.

Biden got a close-up look at the new start-up facility that promises to play a major role in the re-invention of the Toledo area economy into that of a center for alternative and green energies.  He says he believes alternative energy can be the cornerstone of the area's future economy and can be a good deal for everyone. "The deal is, whether we do it or not folks...that 20 years from now, it'll all be green. We either lead the world in that revolution, or we take up the rear, we either lead the world and have the good jobs here or those jobs are going to go to China of Holland or Spain or some other part of the world."

One of the ways that Biden says the Obama adminstration will help lead the world in the area of alternative energy is with a new automotive workers council announced Tuesday.

The council's role will be to help laid off auto workers and downsized parts suppliers find new opportunities by putting their skills and products to work in a new and reinvented economy of the future.

--NBC24's Lou Hebert contributed to this story.