By way of
Liberal Street Fighter:
GE chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is announcing that the $150 billion company is hitching its future to the growth of clean energy, clean water, and other clean technologies...
More details and a poll below the fold.
GE is committing itself to:
- more than double its research investment in cleaner technologies, from $700 million in 2004 to $1.5 billion in 2010;
- introduce more clean-tech products annually, doubling its current $10 billion in annual revenues from ecomagination products and services to at least $20 billion by 2010, "with more aggressive targets thereafter."
GE also is pledging to improve its own environmental performance by:
- reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 1% by 2012 and the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2008, both compared to 2004 (based on the company's projected growth, GE says its emissions would have otherwise risen 40% by 2012 without further action);
- reporting publicly on its progress in meeting these goals.
While unfortunately overbranded as "Ecomagination," should GE actually take these steps, perhaps it will add a critical shot in the arm to the nascent clean energy industry. I'm loath to say it, but putting this tech development in GE's huge economy of scale might speed up the time to market of these technologies. (Of course, it could just be a greenwash; after all, GE runs a bevvy of nuclear and coal plants. I guess we'll find out in a couple of years.)
An Aside Thought in poll form: