EcoMagination? GE reinvents itself for efficiency & conservation
09/16/06 11:42
• Jenbacher engines that produce clean electricity from farm waste and landfill.
• Valox iQ and Xenoy iQ plastic resins made by reprocessing recycled plastic (e.g. water bottles) into genuinely new plastic could save over 500,000 tons of plastic waste per year.
• GEnx jet engines that are 15% more fuel efficient than previous generation engines, and emit 94% less hydrocarbons than new 2008 regulations
• Hybrid locomotives that reduce fuel consumption and emissions 15% vs. today's state of the art.
• CFL lightbulbs and EnergyStar appliances for the home.
• Windturbines
• Combined Cycle electricity generation plants that are dramatically more efficient than present plants.
• GE's new College EcoMagination Challenge conservation education program may be the largest such effort since Earth Day was founded.
Why would GE do this? GE recognizes that almost all its products directly use fossil fuels. Whether raw material for plastic (GE is one of the world's largest plastic resin producers) , jet engines, appliances, or power plants, the biggest lifecycle costs in these products is energy. Most of GE's largely commercial customers buy on lifecycle costs - so reducing energy consumption makes GE win more business and achieve higher margins.
For example, the new Boeing 787 has become the fastest selling new airliner in history largely because it reduces fuel consumption by 20% with 75% of the credit going to GE's new engines. Smart. GE also lowers its risk of being "caught behind the curve" of ever-tightening pollution regulations. Very smart.
We also think GE understands that customers prefer to choose a "green" alternative, all other things being equal. In effect, EcoMagination provides a "halo effect" to the GE brand. Use Half thinks that GE's right to wear that halo is entirely justified.
Smart for GE, smart for our economy, smart for our planet.
No Compromise.
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